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ANDERSON VILLB! 



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BLACKSHIRB ! 









PU..WW. SMITH'S 
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'"KNAPSACK" 



— OF- 



Facts ai]d Figures, 



'61 TO '65. 






TOLEDO, O.: 

SPEAR, JOHNSON & CO., PRINTERS. 
1884. 



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Copyright, 

By Frank W. Smith, 

1884. 



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SMITH'S 

"KN71PSSCK" 

—OF— 

FJlCTS JlJ^D FiaURES, 

'61 to 'Q>^, 

Is most respectfully and lovingly dedicated to the sons 
and daughters and other relatives of the dxty tJiousancT 
of my brother Prisoners of War, who died while confined- 
in southern prisons or shortly after being exchanged. 
Thirty-six thousand four hundred and one of the number;„ 
ascertained by count of headstones, died while in prison. 
Twelve thousand two hundred and twenty-nine died after 
their release and who never reached home. Eleven thou- 
sand three hundred and seventy dying within a few weeks 
afterward, being fifteen thousand seven hundred and sixty- 
two more than were killed from '61 to '05 upon the battle^ 
field. 

In memory of that heroism which caused my com- 
rades to daily reject the proffered liberty from Jeffer- 
son Davis at the cost of their honor and loyalty to our 
flag, and to accept death from starvation and exposure 
as a pleasure compared to aiding the so-called Confed- 
erate States in thek attempts to destroy the Union, and 
in so doing, receive as their reward, freedom, clothing, 
food and the hope of at last meeting father, mother, wife, 
children, brothers, sisters and other loved ones, is my 
"Knapsack" presented for inspection and kindly re- 
ception. 



-«PI^EFA0E 



10^ 



tfjtHOUGH this little book may appear to the giants 

t^ of the literary world, as did the shepherd boy David 
to the giant Goliath, when he stood before him with 
the stones taken from the brook, we trust, coming as 
we do, in the name of the soldier, who died in 
order that his country might live, that the Facts and 
Figures taken from our " Knapsack " may be as effec- 
tive in the cause of right as were the stones from the 
brook. For convenience, questions and answers have 
been selected from the three "Knapsacks" which it 
was our duty and pleasure to "strap on" while serving 
our country: 1st — The Field Knapsack; 2d — Anderson- 
ville Knapsack; 3d— The Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation Knapsack. No attempt has been made to do else 
than allow the Facts and Figures to tell their own story, 
with the hope that the sons and daughters of our Vet- 
rans may learn what it meant for father, uncle and 
brother to have been a soldier; and the better to re- 
ceive the lessons that should come to us with the 
return of Decoration Day. It has been our purpose to 
answer each question correctly, but it is impossible 
that there should not be some mistakes, and their cor- 
rection will be thankfully received. 

This little messenger is sent upon its mission with 
diffidence, and yet not without confidence, trusting 



that never again will any nation ever make it possi- 
ble for like Fads and Figures to be gathered. We start 
our first literary effort upon its campaign of light and 
knowledge with the following hymn composed by 
George H. Boker, and sung by the Loyal League of 
Philadelphia, on the anniversary of the Nation's Inde- 
pendence just four years after the National Congress 
met at the C-apitol to provide for the suppression of 
the great insurrection, and the salvation of the Ee- 
public : 

"Thank God the bloody days are past, 
Our patient hopes are crowned at last , 
And sounds of bugle, drum and fife, 
But lead our heroes home from strife ! 

"Thank God there beams o'er land and sea, 
Our blazing star of victory, 
And everywhere from main to main, 
The old flag flies and rules again. 

"Thank God ! oh dark and trodden race. 
Your Lord no longer veils his face ; 
But through the clouds and woes of fight. 
Shines on your souls a brighter light. 

"Thank God ! we see on every hand, 
Breast-high the rip'ning grain crop stand . 
The orchards bend, the herds increase, 
But oh, thank God ! thank God for Peace." 

FRANK W. SMITH, 
143 Twelfth Street, Toledo, O. Late Co. "D", 124th O. V. I. 

July 9, 1884. 



-^®^C- 



ANDBRSONYILLB, 



Its Record of 12,848 Deaths within Thirteen Months; 10,405 

during June, July, August,, September and October. 

Fully described by Questions and Ansioers, 



FEANK W. SMITH'S 

ANDERSONVILLE 

LATE MEMBER OF CO. "D," 124th O. V. I. 



Reporter — Hello, Smith, you're back again from 
Andersonville, I see — when did you return ? 

S — Wednesday evening. 

R — What was your object in going down ? 

S — To observe "Decoration Day" and gather facts 
and figures to aid in the preparation of my lecture, 
''In and Out of Andersonville," also information as 
to the present appearance of the Old Stockade and 
Cemetery, with other facts concerning that historic 
place which I am preparing for pubffcation. 



8 smith's knapsack 

R — Are you writing a book? 

S — I'm thinking of doing so. 

R — Don't you know the Bible says, to the making 
of books there is no end. 

S — Yes, or something implying what you say. 

R — Frank, it's twenty years sincethewar and da 
you not think enough has been said and written up- 
on that subject ? 

S — No Sir, in this one thing I most heartily agree 
with Jefferson Davis, you know he has recently given 
us his views in "Rise and Fall of the Confederacy/ 

R — Your object may not be the same as his. 

S — Cannot say what his object may have been, but 
I know what mine is. 

R— What is it ? 

S — To pay debts, buy a home for Mrs. Smith, my- 
self and our four children. I beUeve if Mr. Davis 
and other leading men North and South have the 
privilege of publishing books relating to the War of 
the Rebellion, the boys who carried the gun, should 
at least be allowed to issue diphamplet, no matter as 
to the color of the blouse he wore, Blue or Gray, and 
furthermore Mr. Reporter were I the possessor of 
millions the duty of informing the sons and daughters 
of our veterans as to the loyalty and heroism of their 
dear dead while at Andersonville, and fifteen other 
prisons of the South, is just as imperative as it was 
to report for duty in "6i." 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES \f 

R — Then your object is not to stir up discord and 
bad feeling. 

S — No Sir, and no class of men are more willing 
to receive into full fellowship an ex- "Yankee soldier 
than the ex-"Johnies" who for four years stood up 
and fought to carry out what they honestly believed 
to be right, and another thing, they do not admire a 
flip flop, Simon says thumbs up kind of man, down 
South one thing, at the North another, they admire 
gri'^ in any man, no matter where he lives. 

R — Did you talk that way while there on your 
Decoration Tour. 

S — Yes Sir, and plainer, for with several hundred 
of them surrounding the speakers stand, I said, my 
mission among you is not to take one single act back 
from '61 to '65, we settled our difficulties upon the 
field, when the war broke out you thought you could 
handle six "Yanks" a piece, and we in our ignorance 
supposed we were coming down here for a "Picnic," 
7c>e picked up something else, and you tound one yank 
was all you could manage at a time. I admitted had 
I been been born in the South and educated as they 
had been, without the least doubt when Sumpter was 
fired upon I would have put on the "Gray Jacket." 
Then, facing the 13,701 white marble head stones I 
said my mission is to decorate these graves, con- 
taining the remains of boys whose courage you have- 
tested upon scores of battle fields, and no people in 



10 smith's knapsack 

the world know so well concerning their bravery, 
loyalty and devotion to their flag after being placed 
into Andersonville as do you. There, when it meant 
starvation and exposure they remained in preference 
to obtaining libei ty at the price of honor or fighting un- 
der what was at that time your flag. Boys, you cannot 
.help but honoring the memory of soldiers with such 
principle and heroism. To-day we are all glad that the 
war is over, and that we can meet in this sacred spot 
to honor the dead, who died for the Union and their 
.loyalty to our flag. 

R — Well Smith if that's the spirit of your talk while 
with the ex-Confederate soldiers I say no more 
.against your book, but on the other hand will help 
you all I can. 

S- — Thank you reporter, you can be of great assis- 
tance if you will. 

R— How? 

S — By interviewing me, you take the place of the 
questioner who is interested in finding out all he 
possibly can regarding Andersonville as it was in ''64" 
and its present condition and appearance. What do 
you say to writing my book in this way. 

R— All right, what name have you Selected. 

S— Frank W. Smith's "Knap Sack of Facts and 
Figures," '"61 to '65." 

• R — Best name you could have selected, are you 
all ready for questions. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 11 

S — Yes, fire away. 

R — "Was your recent trip to decorate your com- 
rades' graves at Andersonville a success.'* 

S — O yes, and I wish I could tell you how great 
a success it was. Think of it — to stand inside of 20 
years, upon the spot where an armed rebellion starved 
to death, nearly 13,000 of as good men as ever took 
up arms for their country and see upon every one of 
those graves the flag of the Union, placed there 
through the efforts of the very men whom they had 
met on the field of battle and the very women whose 
determination to hold out to the end kept the men at 
the front, when defeat stared them in the very face." 

R — It was the ex-Confederates, then, that made 
your mission a success?" 

S — Yes; the very men who met us hand to hand, 
maimed and wounded men, but now, by the blessing 
of God, as staunch friends of the flag as those who fol- 
lowed it over the 2,000 battlefields to victory " 

R — Now, will you not kindly tell me just how you 
came to undertake that mission and how you were en- 
abled to carry it through .'"' 

S — Nothing could give me greater pleasure. You 
see I had been reading a good deal about the "Con- 
tinental Guards," of New Orleans, composed of 
Federals and ex- Confederates, and of their cordial 
welcome in thenorth. Toledo was making extensive 
preparations to welcome them on their return from 



12 smith's knapsack 

Boston. I was glad of this, and thinking it all over 
one day it suddenly came to me that the north was 
not alone in the desire for reconciliation, and that if 
I should go down and make my long hoped for visit 
to the old prison, I would receive just as warm a wel- 
come from the men of the south. Then and there 
was matured the plan for decorating the Union graves. 
But where was the money to come from and how was 
I to get the flags ? Soon after I happened to meet 
my friend, Gen. Charles L. Young, past senior vice 
commander G. A R., who was actively engaged in 
arranging a reception for the Continentals. I told 
him my plan and he in turn communicated it to the 
Continentals, who were delighted with the project, 
and at once sent me $20 as a starter." 

R — Then your first subscription came from the 
Confederate side ? That certainly had a show of re- 
conciliation about it," 

S — Yes; the first came from the ex-Confederates, 
which set me actively at work. I increased m) funds 
by contributions received at the soldiers' and sailors' 
reunion at Columbus, and through the kindness of 
General P. Pease and W. A. Waggoner, General 
Secretary of the Railroad Y. M. C. A., I was enabled 
to purchase the flags, and set out for Macon, 
Georgia. The Superintendent of the Adams 
Express Company, at Cincinnati, himself an old 
soldier, forwarded them through free of charge. To 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 13 

the earnest co-operation of my brother ex-prisoners of 
war at Columbus am I greatly indebted, as also I am 
to ex-Governor Foster and the ladies who so kindly 
undertook the work of raising the funds under the 
management of Gen'l Pease. 

R — Upon arriving there you sought out your com- 
rades of the Grand Army, did you?" 

S — Not at all; my first inquiry, was for an ex- Con- 
federate who had fought at the front. They directed 
me to Captain W. W. Carnes, now in command of 
the Second Georgia batallion, organized in 1825, and 
composed very largely of ex-Confederate soldiers. I 
went to his house, found him to be a whole-souled 
earnest fellow. He had just returned with his com- 
pany from a pleasant tour in the north, and gave me 
a warm welcome. I told him my mission and that I 
had a box of flags which would have to be arranged 
and forwarded to their destination. 

'•Send your flags over to batallion headquarters," 
he said, and leave it all to me. And there gathered 
these brave men of the south, with their wives and 
sisters and daughters. The flags were unpacked, 
neatly ironed, and made ready to be planted. After 
they were all in order they were agam placed in the 
box, upon which was laid a larger flag, and pinned 
to that the roster of the Second Georgia battallion 
printed in blue on white paper, the Confederate re- 
cognition of my mission. 



14 smith's knapsack 

R — And did many turn out to the exercises at 
Andersonville ? 

S — They came in great numbers. Their representa- 
tive men were there, and the man who made the re- 
sponse to my address at a barbecue tendered at 
Marion, Alabama, has seven bullet wounds in his. 
body, with an arm gone besides. He was a private 
in the Fourth Alabama, — J. B. Shivers by name, and 
the leading lawyer at Marion. Mr. C. W. Wyant^ 
who entertained me at his house for a week, in a right 
royal manner, lost a limb at Atlanta. Captain C. 
W. Lovelace, of Marion, to whom I am indebted 
for my visit, was in command of a Confederate 
battery at New Hope Church when I was captured. 
He is President of the Young Men's Christ- 
ian Association, and one ot the directors of the State 
Normal School for colored people and is at the "front"^ 
in all good work. Mr. Lovelace is also' correspond- 
ing member of the International Committee of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. It was my pleas- 
ure at the National Convention of Association workers,, 
at Milwaukee last year, to capture him in the pre- 
sence of 1,500 Yanks, and while clasping his hand 
to unite with him and the audience in singing^ 'Blest 
be the Tie that binds our Heart in Christian Love." 

R — What did you find the feeling to be down there 
with regard to the issues of the war ? 

S — I did not meet a man who was not glad that 



OF FACTS AJJD FIGURES. 15> 

slavery was forever abolished. And I did not meet 
a man who did not accept the fact that the war settled 
the point that the nation was greater than the state. 
Now that the state rights theory is exploded, the 
same pride that was centered before upon local inter- 
est is now developing for the common country. 
Should the country ever need our services, they said, 
we will march as gladly away as any to the tune of 
^^ My Country ^ Tis o^ Th^e.^^ 

R — Such meetings between old soldiers' who were 
on opposite sides during the war, proves how well 
they can forgive after four years of fighting, and yet. 
notwithstanding the Christian spirit exhibited by 
Captain Lovelace and yourself it must be somewhat, 
of a strain to forgive and forget all the ex-Confeder- 
ates are responsible for. 

S — To forgive requires no strain at all as far as re- 
gards the southern boys who did the fighting, but 
when you mention their President, it is quite another 
matter and yet personally I would not see him sub- 
jected to the hunger and exposure he forced upon, 
myself and brother prisoners of War, who were so 
unfortunate as to fall into his hands. 

R — Have you the heart to forgive him. 

S — Yes, sir ; if he ever acknowledges himself to be 
responsible for what I know him to be, and asks the 
mercy he denied others. But, until he does so, he. 
makes it impossible for me to do so. 



16 smith's knapsack 

R — What do you know him to be responsible for ? 

S — I know liim to be more than any man, living 
or dead, personally responsible for the conHnuance of 
the unnecessary suffering at Andersonvtlle, Libby, 
Savannah, Blackshire, Millen, Belle Isle, 
Danville, Saulisbury, Florence, Pemberton, 
Cahawba, Columbia, Charleston, Castle Thun- 
der and Macon. I know him to be responsible for 
continuing to retain such hard-hearted and unfeeling 
men as General John II. Winder, Commissary General 
of Prisoners of War ; Captain Henri Wirz, Jaines A. 
Seddon, Howell Cobb, Richard B. Winder, Isaiah H. 
White, W. S. Winder, W. Shelby Reed, R. R. Steven- 
son, James Duncan, Wesley W. Turner, Beiyamin 
Harris and others, including each and everyone of 
his Cabinet, who, when the Southern people begged 
that for the good name of the so-called Confederate 
States, the prolonging of slow starvation and murder 
at Andersonville, might be stopped immediately, and 
General Winder removed at once. In refusing to 
grant this appeal for 7?iercy and Justice, he is respon- 
sible, inasmuch, as he not only turned a deaf ear to 
their prayer when supplicating in behalf of the 
defenseless prisoners, but soon after, by promoting and 
placing Winder in full charge of the sixteen prisons 
existing in the South. 

E, — Do you suppose Mr. Davis was aware of the 
true condition of Andersonville ? 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEES. 17 

S — Let me read you a letter sent to Jefferson Davis, 
concerning the treatment of the boys at Florence, 
South Carolina, where I was confined during the 
winter of '64, after leaving Andersonville : 

Statebukg, South Carolina, } 
October 12, 1864. f 
Jefferson Davis, 

President Confederate States, Richmond, Va. : 

Dear Sir .-—Inclosed you will find an account of the 
terrible sufferings of the Yankee prisoners at Florence, 
South Carolina. 

In the name of all that is holy, is there nothing that 
can be done to relieve such dreadful suffering ? 

If such things are allowed to continue they will most 
surely draw down some awful judgment upon our coun- 
try. It is a most horrible national sin that cannot go un- 
jjunishecl. If we cannot give them food and shelter, for 
God's sake parole them and send them back to Yankee 
land, but don't starve the miserable creatures to death. 

Don't think that I have any liking for the Yankee. I 
have none. Those near and dear to me have suffered too 
much from their tyranny for me to have anything but 
hatred to them ; but I have not yet become quite brute 
enough to know of such suffering without trying to do 
something even for a Yankee. 

Yours respectfully, 

Sabina Dismukes. 

R — What was his answer- to Mr. Dismukes' letter ? 

S — Far as we know it was the promotion of General 

John H, Winder as Commissary over all Prisoners of 

War. 

H — Why do you think this promotion was made ? 

S — As a reward of faithfulness to the best interests 

of the so-called Confederate States, and that as a 



18 smith's knapsack 

General over defenseless, hungry, home-sick, half 
starved, maimed, penned-up prisoners he was doing 
better work, and more of it in the rear, than Lee and 
Johnston were at the front. 

R — Explain yourself? 

S — I will, or rather allow Winder's own statement 
to explain what it was that Jefferson Davis and his 
advisers recognized in him so worthy of their favor- 
able attention. In referring to Andersonville, he 
said : "I am going to build a pen here that will kill 
more damned ' Yankees ' than can be destroyed in 
the front." 

R — Without doubt, the General was mad, when he 
made that fiendish and cowardly statement ? 

S — Perhaps so, but if that was the case, he kept 

growing more so all the time for thirteen months, 

and the poor boys under him at "Libby," offered 

this short, fervent and heartfelt prayer for us : 

" God have mercy on our brother soldiers who pass 
througrh the gates into Andersonville." 

R — Have you any facts or figures to convince me 
that he ever fulfilled his threat ? 

S — Figures are sometimes made to lie, but these 
do not, and if you do not say they make the 
blackest page of all history written by Jefferson 
Davis and his advisers, and that John H. Winder did 
earn his promotion, from their stand-point of looking 
at a "Yank" and their cause, then I am mistaken. 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 19 

The total number of Union soldiers confined in Con- 
federate prisons was 94,072. 

Number of deaths, ascertained by the graves, 
36,401. 

Total number of prisons, where Union prisoners of 
war were confined, sixteen. 12,848 of the 36,401 
died at Andersonville, and 10,405 of that number 
died during the five months of June, July, August, 
September and October. 2,081 each month. Three 
years of such work would kill off every man, woman 
and child in the City of Toledo. 

R — Smith you have a way of causing figures from 
your ^'- Knapsack^^ to speak louder than pages of 
history ? 

S— Yes, sir ; but the above figures are not all that 
must be laid to his charge. 11,599 exchanged 
prisoners of war died before reaching home, and 
1 2, OOO soon after ; making a total of 60, OOO 
Union soldiers who lost their lives while prisoners or 
soon after being released from Jefferson Davis' pens 
of starvation, torture, long-drawn-out misery and 
death. 

R — You do not charge the loss of this army ot men 
to wilful neglect, do you. Be careful now as to your 
answer, Frank ? 

S — Reporter take this down in plain letters, such 
as all may read as they run ; so that the wayfaring 
man, though a fool, may not err therein. We 



20 smith's knapsack 

had actually confined in our prisons 227,570 
Confederate soldiers; number of deaths, 30,152 
out of 227,570 prisoners held by our Government; 
while out of the 94,702 held by them 36,401 of 
our boys died in their prisons, making no mention 
of the 23,599 dying shortly after being exchanged. 

R — What was the condition of the Confederates 
when exchanged ? 

S — Better than when we received them ; in many 
instances weighed more, and in A No. 1 condition for 
hard work at the front. 

E, — Yes, that's so, and a good argument, showing 
conclusively that the Confederates did not have food, 
clothing and medicine to furnish their own men, let 
alone furnishing prisoners of war ? 

S — I'm real glad, reporter, you^re so kindly dis- 
posed toward Mr. Davis and his advisers. 

R_Why so ? 

S — Because it arfords me an opportunity of stating 
that 20,000 of the 36,401 who died while under 
the care of Jefferson Davis, died from want of pure 
air, water, wood and such protection from the weather 
as was in their power to give. Granting the fact that 
he was hard pushed for supplies, does not help the 
matter at all, but only makes the facts still worse and 
blacker for him and his cabinet. 

B — How can that be possible ? 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 21 

S — Gro ahead with your questions on Anderson - 
villa and they will result in the answer desired. 

R — All right, where was this world-renowned 
prison pen located ? 

S — Sixty miles south of Macon, Ga., on the South- 
western Railroad, one-half mile east of the Station 
called Anderson. 

R — Why is it now called Andersonville ? 

S — The " Ville " was added after the settling of so 
many " Yanks" in the neighborhood during the 
year 1864. 

R — How large was the town in '64 ? 

S — One store, three or four houses, and the Rail- 
way Station. 

R — When was the pen erected ? 

S — During the month of February, 1864. 

R — How many barracks or houses did Jefferson 
Davis cause to be erected within the enclosure ? 

S — Not one ; Jefferson Davis, his advisers and 
John H. Winder never intended Andersonville as a 
place of protection to the soldiers who might be so 
unfortunate as to be taken prisoners of war. 

R — What was their intention then ? 

S — To beat Grant and Sherman. 

R — I do not understand you ; explain yourself 
Frank ? 

S — Reporter, the undeniable facts are that Ander- 
sonville was so managed under the term of Jefferson 



22 smith's knapsack 

Davis' reign as President of the so-called Confederate 
States, as to knowingly injure the health, and destroy 
the lives of soldiers in the military service of the 
United States, and for the one purpose of accomplish- 
ing at Andersonville, what he failed in doing at the 
front. 

R — After twenty years of time, in which to cool 
off and think calmly of what took place there, do you 
still hold Mr. Davis responsible for the terrible his- 
tory of Andersonville ? 

S — Yes, sir ; with him and his advisers it was 
Andersonville or anything to beat "Grant and Sher- 
man." 

R — Well, I see you are firm in your conviction 
and cannot be moved, so please, describe how the 
prison was constructed ? 

S — Andersonville was simply a hole made by 
removing the pine trees from nearly twenty acres of 
ground, out of which the stockade was made. The 
timbers we cut into lengths of twenty-five feet and 
placed in trenches five ft. deep. The timbers were held 
together at the top by strips upon the outside and 
inside, being thoroughly spiked to each one of them. 

R — What were the dimensions of Andersonville ? 

S — i,oio feet long and 779 feet wide, until July, 
when 600 feet was added to the north end, making it 
1,610 feet long. 

R — Was the width changed ? 

S— No. 



or FACTS AND FIGUKES. 23 

R — How many entrances were there to this pen or 
stock yard? 

S — Two, known as the "South" and "North" gates. 

R — Why were they called north and south gates ? 

S — Andersonville prison v/as situated upon two 
side hills, which sloped down to a stream or branch 
about which was a bog or swampy piece of land 
covering nearly three acres, and unsafe, as any one 
attempting to go over it would soon sink to their 
hips. The "South Gate" was upon the south side and 
the "North Gate" upon the north side of this bog. 
This fact alone caused the above names to be applied 
to them. 

R — How were they made as to strength and size ? 

S— Very large and as strong as the heaviest timber 
could make them, the tops being several feet higher 
than the timbers comprising the stockade ; the hinges 
were of wrought iron and as long as your arm and I 
should say eight inches wide at the hinge or centre. 
In order to lessen the possibility of carrying the gate 
by storm, or charging it, as in the field you'd take a 
battery. General Winder, had a small wicket made 
so that the main gate need not be opened only to 
admit the "Ration Wagon." Just outside of this 
little gate there was quite a large court or space about 
which was another stockade. This was occupied by 
the guards, "Death Register Clerk," and captain of 
the day. 



24 smith's knapsack 

R — Of course you paid the spots where they were 
located a visit, did you not? 

S — Yes indeed, and have at the house now two 
large pieces of the south gate, through which 12,848 
Union soldiers were carried out dead or in a dying 
condition, and 10,405 during one hundred and 
fifty-five days. 

R — Smith, do you wish me to report that last 
statement ? 

S — Certainly, its one of the Andersonville Knap- 
sack Facts. Why, Reporter, the poor prisoner of war 
who passed under the portals of that gate was forced 
to say, "All who enter here leave hope behind." As a 
rule the sentence was, ^^For Life'' 

R--Come, that's enough of such awful facts and 
figures tell me about the stream which you said flowed 
through the grounds. 

S — Well, sir, you should have started a different 
subject, for the water question at Andersonville 
is the most crushing for Jefferson Davis to face, unless 
it may be that of making it impossible within the pen 
to breathe pure air, only during a thunder storm, 
over which, thank God, he had no control. 

R — If Andersonville was without houses or cover- 
ing how was it within any man's power to keep out 
pure air ? 

S — After deducting space taken up by " Dead 
Line,''' swamp and the two streets opposite our gates, 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 25 

we had a little over thirteen acres until the north 
addition was made, then possibly twenty acres for 
upwards of 33, OOP men. The stream before reach- 
ing us came through the Confederate camp of 3, GOO 
men, two regiments of this number were encamped on 
the side of the branch, the prison cook-house 
was located near it, and you can readily judge what 
that meant. 

R — Was the water pure and fit for drinking and 
cooking purposes? 

S — No, sir ; about all you can say in its favor is, 
that it was wet. 

R — How deep was it ? 

S — Not over six inches. 

R — How wide ? 

S — From eight to ten feet. 

R, — I do not see yet but that you had plenty of 
fresh and pure air. You spoke a moment ago of not 
being granted the use of pure air and I'm afraid you 
have cornered yourself? 

S — That only proves your sublime ignorance as to 
what Andersonville was. In your anxiety to learn 
everything at once, you are causing me to answer a 
question that should come later, but it may not do 
any harm to repeat it. After June our numbers never 
reached less than 26,307, until September, when 
the exchange of prisoners commenced. You remember, 
I told you, that the prison grounds were situated Re- 



26 SMITH S KNAPSACK 

porter, on two side hills sloping down to the stream 
now in question ? 

R — Yes, sir. 

S — During the months mentioned, prior to com- 
mencement of exchange, we had from 8, OOP to 
10,000 sick within the pen. These boys had to be 
cared for as best we could manage it among our- 
selves, not less than three-fourths of them being 
down with ' Andersonville diarrhoea, dysentery and 
bloody-flux, caused from our coarse, half-cooked 
rations. Now, these boys were compelled to lie over 
Httle sink-holes or earth-closets not more than two 
feet deep. During the twenty-four hours the very 
life and vitals would seap or ooze from them. 
Reporter, at our hospital at Florence, South Carolina, 
I have known the sick in hospital to use their tin cup 
for this purpose and were compelled to draw rations i??. 
the same utensils. After a few days, these holes I 
spoke of, would fill up, and during rains, they 
were caused to overflow, when the deadly, corrupted, 
poisonous matter would find a common centre in the 
"bog" either side of the stream, along a portion of 
which was etrcted a frame used by all prisoners able to 
walk^ as a water-closet. Reporter, shall I go any 
farther to convince you that pure air was never to be 
had at Andersqnville. If so, let me tell you that this 
festering, putrid, excremental matter, both sides of the 
stream, did not flow out of our prison, but was taken 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES, 27 

off by evaporation, absolutely causing a stench that 
could be detected one mile and a half. 

11 — Is it possible, and all this only twenty years 
ago. O my country at what a cost were we saved^ 
and by men who facing all this stood by their flag 
rather than to accept Hberty at cost of their 
horror. Pensions for such men ? Yes, yes,, we never 
can do too much for them. 0, how little we under- 
stand what it means to draw a pension. Smith — 
put me down in favor of Pensions for ex-Prisoners- 
every time. 

S — Keep on Reporter and you'll make a good 
stump speech in our favor. 

R — Now tell me how you were guarded ? 

S — In order to give the Confederate guards a full 
and unbroken view of the inside of the stockade 
little perchers or sentinel stands were prepared, such 
as may be seen at any states prison. They were 
placed at regular intervals, entirely surrounding the 
enclosure. I think there were fifty-four of them. 
The guards reached their post of duty by means of 
little ladders from the outside. Each hour of the 
night was called and passed from guard to guard, 
with the never-ending cry, of "a-1-1 's w-e-11." 

R — Were you allowed to hold conversation with 
them ? 

S — That depended altogether upon the make-up 
of the " Johnnies " on duty. There were those whO' 



28 smith's knapsack 

enjoyed a chat with the "Yanks," and when that was 
the case, with the guard near my residence^ I would 
pass away twenty or thirty minutes at a time teUing 
him concerning our Northern institutions. We soon 
learned to whom we could talk, and never to attempt 
it when Sherman was making himself too much at 
home in Atlanta or elsewhere. 

R — Did this constitute the entire means ot keep- 
ing you from breaking out or otherwise making your 
■escape. 

S — No sir, eighteen feet from the stockade, was 
placed the "dead line" beyond which no prisoner 
-could go without endangering his life. 

R — What was the dead line, and why so called? 

S — The ''dead line" was made by nailmg a strip of 
board four inches wide upon little posts twenty feet 
apart. The above name was applied to it from the fact 
that the guards had the right to shoot any one at- 
tempting to cross over the line toward the stockade. 
Besides this there was a second line of timbers forty 
or fifty yards beyond the first, then a cordon of earth 
works twelve feet high, making a ditch the same 
number of feet wide; then running parallel with this 
Ime of works which completely surrounded the prison, 
were several lines of rifle pits. On the earth-works at 
different points were seventeen cannon, planted 
so as to command full sweep of the eighteen acres of 
.ground upon which were nearly 35,000 j^risoners of 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES 



29 



War.. So you see, Mr. Reporter, that it was no boys* 
play to make our escape. 

R — How far from the railway station was the 
prison ? 

S — One half mile. 

R — Who was in command ? 

S — Captain Henri Wirz. 

R — Did he plan or locate Andersonville ? 

S — No sir, General John H. Winder, of Baltimore^ 
ivid., who was Commissary General of prisoners -of 
war under Jefferson Davis. 

R — Now, Smith, before taking up questions as to- 
Life and Death within the stockade in order that 
readers of the "Knapsack" may know how to appre- 
ciate the interview, please state the number of 
prisoners confined each month, with the death record 
also? 



Number in 
Stockade. 



Deaths. 



Daily 
Av'r'ge 



]March 

April 

:^ray 

June 

July...... 

August 

September 
October . . . 
November. 



4,763 

9,577 

18,454 

26,367 

31,678 

31,693 

8,218 

4,208 

1,359 



283 


593 


711 


1,202 


1,742 


3,076 


2,790 


1,595 


485 



9 
19 
23 
40 
56' 
99 
90 
51 
10 



In April one in every sixteen died. 
In May one in every twenty-six died. 
In June one in every twenty-two died. 



30 smith's knapsack 

In July one in every eighteen died. 

In August one in every eleven died. 

In September one in every three died. 

In October one in every two died. 

In November one in every three died. 

The greatest number of deaths in one day is re- 
ported to hive been one hundred and twenty-seven, 
which occurred on the 23rd of August, or one man 
every eleven minutes. 

The greatest number in the stockade at any one 
time IS said to have been August 8th when there 
were 33,114 . 

R — Thanks, Smith ; you perhaps cannot appreciate 
how greatly these facts will aid the readers ot the 
K7iapsack to better understand the balance of our 
interview. You must not forget that many things that 
seem very simple and very plain to you from having 
been there, are dark and mysterious to others, so do 
not become impatient if a portion of my questions 
are seemingly trifling. Now that we have the^prison 
grounds clearly defined, before proceeding any fur- 
ther into the details of prison life, I desire to ask a 
few personal questions. 

S — No, you cannot; go ahead with Andersonville, 
you must not crowd matters. 

R — What about the blood hounds, were they full- 
blooded and savage ? 

S — I think they were what we understand as the 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 31 

mongrel or cross between the hound and the cur 
with two full-blooded ones to lead off. 

R — Were they raised with good effect? 

S — Yes, if you call hunting down escaped prisoners 
of war to the death, good effect, they were. 

R — Were they trained ? 

S — Yes sir, from puppies, and they could keep a 
*'Yanks" track no matter if a regiment of "Johnnies" 
had passed all about it. 

R — How many did captain Wirz own ? 

S — Not any. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet 
owned or controlled them, Wirz was only a tool or 
agent. 

R — Where were they kenneled ? 

S — Several near the captain's headquarters, but 
the country for miles surrounding Andersonville was 
supplied with 'them under the care of the farmers. 
The howling of the hound was the death knell or 
warning of capture which usually meant death in a 
few days after, as sometimes the re- captured would 
give up and die from discouragement if not from the 
fangs of the dog. 

R — Did you ever raake any attempt to escape ? 

S— No sir. 

R — What modes of escape were mostly resorted to ? 

S — The "dead dodge" tunneling out, running off 
when aiding to carry out the dead or after wood. 

R — "Dead dodge," explain what you mean. 



32 smith's knapsack 

S — Each morning all the dead were gathered and 
taken over to the south side before being removed to 
the dead house. Often some of the boys would play 
dead, and the comrades understanding the "dodge" 
would tie the big toes together with a rag, lable the 
body and take it to the "dead house,'"' then upon the 
tricky "yank" himself depended the completion of 
the efforts to reach "God's country" as we always 
called the north. 

R — The tunnel process, how was that accompHshed? 

S — McElroy, now associate editor of the "National 
Tribune," Washington, describes the tunnel business 
in these words : "The great tunneling tool was the 
indispensible half canteen. The inventive genius of 
our people, stimulated by the war, produced nothing 
for the comfort and effectiveness of the soldier equal 
in usefulness to this humble and unrecognized uten- 
sil. It will be remembered that a canteen was com- 
posed of two pieces of tin struck up into the shape 
of saucers and vSoldered together at the edges. The 
starting point of a tunnel was ahvays some tent 
close to the "dead line," and sufficiently well closed 
to screen the operations from the sight of the guards 
near by. The party engaged in the work organized 
by giving a number to secure apportionment of the 
labor. Number one began digging with his half 
canteen, after he had worked until he was tired, he 
came out and number two took his place, and so on 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 33 

The tunnel was simply a round rat-like furrow, a little 
larger than a man's body, the digger lay on his 
stomach, dug ahead of him, threw the dirt under 
him and worked it back with his feet, till the man be- 
hind him, also lying on his stomach, could catch it 
and work it back to the next, as the tunnel length- 
ened the number of men behind each other in this 
way had to be increased. When the dirt was pushed 
back to the mouth of the tunnel it was taken up in 
improvised bags, made by tying up the bottoms of 
pantaloon legs, carried to the swamp and emptied. 
The work in a tunnel was very exhausting, and the 
digger had to be released every half hour, 

R — About how long would it require to complete 
one ? 

S — From five to seven weeks. 

R — Was there any means used to find out if tun- 
neling was going on. 

S — Yes, the confederates used long poles with 
sharp iron points, which they would punch into the 
ground. 

R — What was that for ? 

S — To see if any of the tunnels were near comple- 
tion, if so, of course they could find it put by the pike 
striking through into the hole. 

R — Was that the only means ? 

S — No, a two-wheel cart was loaded with boulders 
and large stones and driven about between the "dead 



34 smith's knapsack 

line" and stockade in order to see if they could not 
break through some tunnel we were at work on. 

R — How many do you suppose ever succeeded in 
reaching "our lines" ? 

S — I think 340 is the number stated in their re- 
ports, hundreds more got out but were hunted down 
to the swamps, treed and brought back. 

R — Were there no friends at all in the South to 
aid you after working your way out of that horrible 
pen ? 

S— Yes. 

R— Who ? 

S — The colored people, they never went back on 
us ; they were our "North Star," guiding us by night, 
and during the day would secrete us under their huts, 
or in straw stacks, or up their chimneys. 

R— Wasn't that risky? 

S — For them do you mean? 

R— Yes. 

S — Indeed, it was; but they loved Lincoln's soldiers 
and always stood by us ; they would stop the hound 
by going half a mile back and scatter red pepper in 
our tracks, which would destroy the power of the 
hound to further trace us. 

R — How are they now, friendly ? 

S — Yes sir, simply let them know you were ever a 
prisoner at Andersonville and Grant's coat will not 
be big enough to make you a vest. Yes sir ree, they 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES 35 

and their children know what the war resulted in. 

R — Now please tell me concerning your rations. 

S — They consisted of beans, corn bread made from 
unsifted meal into great cakes as large as would hold 
together, rice steamed or half boiled, which was 
brought to us in immense boxes, molasses, bean soup, 
occasionally some bacon or meat. 

R — How much made a day's allowance? 

S — Piece of corn and bran cake size of your hand, 
lump of rice big as your fist, molasses, two spoon- 
fulls, a slice of bacon possibly as large and wide as 
your two fingers. 

R — Were the rations always cooked ? 

S— No, the day that the ''South Side" drew cooked 
the ''North Side" would receive uncooked. 

R— Any salt ? 

S — ^Just enough to say so. 

R— Soap ? 

S — I never received any as I can remember, some 
may have. 

R — How was the rations brought in ? 

S — In what was known as the "Ration Wagon." 

R — How many times a day ? 

S — Once only.. 

R — I suppose you could tell when the rations were 
coming? 

S — Yes, sir ; you would think 10,000 bees were 
swarming. 



36 smith's knapsack 

R — How so ? 

S — Millions of flies would follow the wagon in and 
out of the stockade, the buz of the fly would warn us 
if the cheer of the comrades outside did not. 

R — The boys who did not have any cups or frying 
pans, what could they draw their food in ? 

S — An old shoe, boot leg with a wooden bottom,, 
their pockets if that article had not been used in help- 
ing to make a tent, or else an old stocking. 

R — Seeing they gave a portion each day of uncook- 
ed rations, it was a good thing you had trees and 
brush plenty on the grounds that you could use? 

S — Reporter, it's very evident that you know much 
more concerning the "art" of interviewing "Yanks" 
than as to how Jefferson Davis entertained them at 
his Hotel De Andersonville. 

R — What are you driving at Frank ? 

S — Why, did you not know that Jefferson Davis 
only allowed two trees to remain standing upon the 
twenty acres ? 

R — No, where were they ? 

S— On the "South Side." 

R — What did you do for wood ? 

S — That much needed and very plentiful article 
was issued with the same care as the food. 

R — What was a day's rations? 

S — A piece not over the length of your arm and 
about the same size. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 37 

R — Was your bill of fare always the same ? 

S — No, we were favored in that one thing by Mr. 
Davis, 

R — Well I'm real glad of one good sign in the 
man, what did the change consist of? 

S — If to-day the rations were corn bread, rice, 
molasses and beans, to-morrow it would be beans, 
molasses, rice and corn bread, so you see Reporter, 
•ex-President Davis was a real "French Cook." 

R — Did he supply you with cooking utensils ? 

S — With ivhaH he did not seem to think Yanks 

knew what such thmgs were for, much less need 

them. No sir, never did Jefferson Davis give a prisoner 

of waratm cup, canteen, pan or anythmg with which 

-to help make our sad condition a little less terrible. 

R — How did you manage to cook and prepare 
3'our rations ? 

S — As only soldiers taken by Jefferson Davis were ever 
compelled to. Our corn bread was baked by leaning 
the wet ?7ieal and bran up against two slivers facing 
the fire, or in the ashes; our beans were boiled in 
half canteens or tin pans made from old tin that we 
picked up while on the way to the prison. Four or 
five beans or the corn pea m a cup of water made 
rich soup, at least, Davis thought so. I tell you, 
Reporter, he could manage Poor Houses on so eco- 
nomical a scale that in two years the State would not 
have any of the first inmates to feed. 



38 smith's knapsack 

R — What about the second batch ? 

S — The second would never go in. They would 
prefer to starve outside. 

R — Personally, do you recall any cases^ such as 
you describe? 

S — Most assuredly; thousands of them. Hun- 
dreds upon hundreds were forced to eat their rations 
about raw, as they had no means of cooking them 
at all, and only as they received help from some 
comrade who happened to be a little better off, they 
could not do otherwise than to put all their rations, 
save the bean sovp, in their pockets and eat as they 
walked or sat down upon the hot burning sands of 
hillsides. I tell you, Reporter, it was a crime no less 
than King Nero's, for he killed his enemies, while- 
Davis starved his. 

R — Yes, I'll admit all that, but were you personally 
ever put to such extreme measures ? 

S — Yes, I received two ''cow eyes" at Florence 
as my share of a beef's head, which was issued to> 
eight of us for extra pay for acting as nurses. 

R — How could that be ; the tongue alone would 
have given each of you quite a nice piece of meat- 
Frank, you forgot that didn't you? 

S— No, but Jefferson Davis did. 

R — Forgot what? 

S — I'orgot to leave the tongue in it. 

R — How so ? • 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 39 

S — It was remaned before the head was presented to us. 

R — Fve heard of oxtail soup but never cow eye 
soup. 

S — There never was any cow eye soup. 

R — Why I thought you made soup from the eyes ? 

S — I tried hard enough, but the eyes were harder 
than my efforts. Reporter, tell your mother never 
to fool her time away in trying to make beef tea or 
soup out of cow eyes. It can't be did. 

R — With so many thousand men ? 

S — Let me correct you. Two-thirds of us were 
boys from seventeen to twenty years of age. 

II — All right. With so many boys with no 
blankets or tents issued, how did you protect your- 
selves from the rain storms and terrible heat of the sun? 

S — We would chip in. 

R— Chip in ? 

S — Yes, that's what I said. 

R — Pray, what was chipping in? 

S — Many times in battle the boys would be com- 
pelled to throw away, or leave behind them in case 
of a surprise, what they had ; or, some of the Con- 
federates would take blankets, tents, etc., from 
us. In such cases, after we got over the fir^t amaze- 
ment as to Andersonville, the chipping in business 
would commence. One would give half of his shirt, 
another a draw leg, another part of his blouse or 
pants lining, still another one of his stockings, etc., 



40 smith's knapsack 

until we would have plenty to make what Mrs. 
Smith calls a " crazy quilt." 

R — What would you sew the patches in with ? 

S — Bits of string were used, also pine sHvers for 
pins. 

R — Smith, how could you find employment in 
order to pass the time away ? 

S — After being in Andersonville twenty four hours 
I never lacked lively employment. 

R — Who furnished you work ? 

S — Jefferson Davis. 

R— What kind ? 

S — Killing ^' gray backs'' or body lice. 

R — Were there any there ? 

S — Millions upon millions of them. No cleanly 
prisone7' was an idle one, 

R — Tell me about them ? 

S — No, no ; not now. Hold on till you come to 
the "Sick Call" portion of your interview. 

R — I suppose story-telling occupied much of your 
time ? 

S — Yes, indeed; we would tell everything that 
ever happened to us, from the measels up to being 
shot with cannon balls. Talk about home, mother 
and how cooking was done. And each boys' 
mother could cook the best. 

R — Did you tire of such talk ? 

S — No, sir ; only when talking about our home 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES 41 

dinners we became weak from hunger, then some 
one would break up the meeting with a row and 
swear eternal or everlasting death upon Jefferson Davis 
and his cabinet. 

R — How about sleeping at night. The poor fel- 
lows without blankets and tents, how did they keep 
alive ? 

S — By "spooning." 

R — Spooning ? 

!S — Yes, certainly, Reporter. Why not. You 
must know what "spooning " is, or have you always 
roomed alone ? 

R— Yes. 

S — Well, spooning is sleeping as close together as 
spoons are packed for shipping. Some hundred or 
more would lie down in long lines opposite the 
" Main Gates," the streets being twenty feet wide 
and running clear across the ground from West to 
East, from " Dead Line to Dead Line." By eight 
o'clock a few boys would turn in ; shortly after some 
fellow would come along, and touching one of the 
end men, would say : "Look here, wake up." Say, 
comrade, "Can I spoon with you to-night;" and the 
one awakened would ask, '-'■Are you lousyT' ''No." 
" Well, all right ; chuck up, spoon close, for it's 
cold." By and by, the line containing sometimes 
three hundred men would be sound asleep. 

R — How could they turn over. Supposing the 



42 smith's knapsack 

middle man's hips got tired, what was he to do, for 
sleeping as you say, spoon-fashion or stomach to 
back, you must have been padlocked together, espe- 
cially with your legs tangled up. 

S— Well, we had what the '' Toledo Cadets " know 
nothing about. 

R — What movement could that possibly be ? 

S — The midnight spoon drill in one time and 
Jif/^y motions. 

E. — Give it to me ? 

S — Reporter, if you were ''spooning" with fifty 
other reporters and desired to change hips or turn 
over, how would you go at it ? 

R — ''Gimminy Gum," I give it up. How under the 
sun was it accomplished, Frank? 

S — In order to favor some tired comrade's right 
hip, we had what was known as the right spoon 
movement. Suppose the middle man of the three 
hundred in line desire to rest the tired and sore hip, 
well the order would be passed both ways left and 
right until the entire 300 were ready; then the com- 
mand of attention ! was given, prepare to spoon ; 
soon after in sharp clear tones, "Right Spoon," turn. 
Reporter, talk about Chinese day fire works or the 
World's Bazaar; pshaw, either one is a tame affair 
compared to the midnight sight of OOP legs twisting 
and revolving in the air all at once. 

R — You are correct, I don't think Capt. McMaken 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 43 

or Lieut Cook could win the banner should they 
compete in the "Spoon Drill." 

R — I understand that some of you were compelled 
to live in "Dug Outs," is that so ? 

S — The prisoner was counted lucky indeed who 
had what was known at Andersonville as a "Brown 
Stone Front" or a "Dug Oat." 

R — What were they, and how made ? 

S — A Brown Stone Front was made with sticks and 
mud something after the fashion of a southern chim- 
ney. Our blankets were used for roofs and siding or 
sometimes a blanket or piece of one would cover the 
top of a hole, umbrella like. This hole, many times, 
would be the opening into a larger one capable of 
containing ten or twelve men. A dug out was, well 
I don't believe I can describe one, but they were 
homes only such as prisoners of war in the South 
would ever have been compelled to make ; they were 
more like the home of a prairie dog than anything else 
I can possibly think of. Both of these would do quite 
nicely until heavy rains came; then*good-bye "Brown 
Stone-Fronts," and "Dug Outs." 

R — How could you keep yourself in clothing if 
the Confederates did not furnish the needed supply ? 

S — Reporter, of all the trying incidents connected 
with my life as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, 
Millin, Blackshire and Florence, there was nothing 
so hard, and that so completely unmanned me, as 



44 smith's knapsack 

being compelled to exchange clothing with the dead. 

R — With the dead ; how. What do you mean? 

S — I mean, Reporter, that after we had been at 
Andersonville a few weeks our pants, shirts and 
blouse, in consequence of wearing them every min- 
ute of the twenty-four hours, sleeping and lying about 
•on the sand hills of the stockade grounds, would 
cause them to become thin, threadbare, then hang in 
tatters. Patches were made of bits of blankets, meal 
sacks, bottoms and lining of our pants; pockets would 
be used as patches also; then in a few days it would 
be patch upon patch, until Solomon with ail his wis- 
dom and learning would not have risked a nickle as 
to which was pants and which was patch. 

R — Without needles and thread, how did you man- 
age to fasten your patches; answer this question then 
finish telling me about using your dead comrades 
garments. 

S — Some of the boys would have the much desired 
articles, and if we could not borrow, we'd content 
ourselves with tying the patches on, or by making 
needles from the pitch pine slivers found on our 
rations of wood. We used bits of string or thread 
which could at times be traded for with the ''Fresh 
Fish" that came in. 

R — Fresh Fish. Excuse me for interrupting you 
again, but you keep working in such expressions 
that you compel me to do so, or else remain in ignor- 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 45 

ance as to the many interesting yet sad features and 
facts of your prison life. Certainly you had no fish, 
fresh or salt^ at iVndersonville, did you ? 

S — Yes, sir; most every day the "South Gate" 
would open up, and in would come several hundred, 
and one day twenty-five hundred were sent to us 
from the front. 

R — Who sent them, your friends ? 

S — No, sir; the Confederate Generals. We could 
usually tell by the whistle of the engine and the stir- 
up at Captain Wirz' quarters when the fish were on 
the way, and in a moment the news would spread 
over the stockade and ^ight or ten thousand men 
would hurry to the South Side as fast as their poor 
thin legs could carry them, each having some article 
of prison food especially prepared for this occasion, 
the same as our merchants arrange for the Tri-State 
Fair. 

R— What did you do with it? 

S — We traded it off to the fresh fish^ or newly 
arrived prisoners, who were called by that name, in 
place of fresh arrivals. We at the gate, or near it as 
we dare go, would trade off our meal, pones, bean 
soup, rice, etc., for hard-tack and a few kernels of 
coffee, sugar, or a piece of bacon. Then, again, we 
greatly desired to hear from the " front " as to how 
the day was going. " Fresh fish " days were also 
valuable for weeks after, as the older prisoners would 



46 smith's knapsack 

pass away the time in talking about ''God's country" 
and " Home," with some new comer. We always 
referred to the North as God's country. It was a 
touching scene to see comrades of the same company 
and regiment meeting after several months' absence 
and going off by themselves to chat. 

R — Hold on a minute, I must ask you another 
question before you go any farther. Did you ever 
chance to come across any of your regiment in that 
way ? 

S — Yes, sir; and one who lived within five miles 
of my parents, and O I cannot tell you how good it 
was to look at a man who even had ever heard of my 
father and mother, and to have him look through his 
knapsack for letters, in order that I could see an 
•envelope that was stamped at the Cleveland office. 

R — Did you ever hear from your folks after reach- 
ing Andersonville ? 

S— No, sir; the last letter I received was just 
before I started with Sherman on the Atlanta cam- 
paign. After the battle of New Hope Church my 
name was published in the list of the wounded and 
missing. Enquiry was made in person and by letter 
by my brother George, who was at that time with 
the 41st Ohio and was personally well acquainted 
with the officers of our brigade, division and corps, 
all of whom rendered every assistance possible in the 
search upon the field and hospitals. 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 4/ 

R — How long was it before your folks knew where 
you were ? 

S — Six months. 

R — How did you inform them ? 

S — A comrade who occupied part of a tent near 
mine was going to be exchanged on account of not 
having but one leg. I wrote a few lines on a sm.all 
piece of paper not large enough to contain one mil- 
lioneth part of what I longed to tell them. My 
comrade promised when he reached "our lines " he 
would mail it. He did so, and then, for the first 
time in six months, my parents knew where their boy 
was. Reporter, very little hope came with the letter 
dated at Anderson ville Prison, Sumpter County, Ga. 

R — Did you ever hear from them while a prisoner? 

S — No, sir; but I would look at the moon Friday 
night's, remembering that father and mother were 
looking at the same moon while on their way to 
prayer meeting, and there was some comfort even in 
that. 

R — Well, well ; you poor fellows did have it most 
terribly tough. Now, without any more turning off 
to other matters, please tell me concerning the man- 
ner of obtaining your clothing? 

S — The only possible way open for us to change 
our tattered wardrobe was to have an understanding 
with our dying companions that alter death we M^ere 
welcome to whatever they had upon them that was 



48 smith's knapsack 

in better condition than ours. So, Reporter, had my 
brother George been with me and died, his last words 
would without doubt, have been : " Frank, my shirt 
is a little better than yours, so are my pants and 
blouse ; now, after I am dead, please promise me to 
try and forget all about how I will be buried, for 
you, dear brother, will need something besides your 
thin, ragged-patched things. You cannot tell how 
many long weary days Andersonville may have in 
store for you, so take even to my shoes, they are 
miserable excuses, I know, but take them, Franks 
poor boy." Then would come the words, faintly 
uttered, " For our dear parents and loved ones at 
home;" also, the admonition, ''For me to die 
rather than gain liberty in work that would render 
aid to Jefferson Davis." Then the death-rattle would 
sound, and with hands holding mine, the life so dear 
to me would pass out, leaving only his poor famine - 
pinched form m my arms. Reporter, I see from your 
eyes that you are in full sympathy with my sad expe- 
rience, but the saddest lines remain to be told. In 
order to remove the clothing easily it had to be done 
soon after death before the body became cold and 
stiff; and Reporter, this Government will never know 
what sacrifices their heroic dead made for its honor 
at Andersonville and other Confederate prisons. 
Think of a brother taking off the shirt or pants from 
the dead brother and putting only rags upon him in 



OP FACTS AND FIGURES. 49 

exchange, when he knew that nothing save a trench was 
waiting the reception of the remains, so precious not 
only to him but the praying ones at home, who little 
thought that their boy would ever have been starved 
to death. A Mr. R. K. Reed, now living in Water- 
bury, Conn., held his own son in his arms at Ander- 
sonville while the boy died. The son's last words werei 
"Father I wish I was in Waterbury;" Father, if ever 
I have wronged you or dear mother I hope you will 
forgive me." Then clasping the father's hands he said^ 
"I feel all the blood rushing to my head," and after a 
moment's pause closed his eyes and gasped, ''I'm done 
for," and died. Reporter, no wonder you are weepings 
you need not try to hide the tears, you never shed 
any that gave more evidence of greater manhood. O, 
such days ; is it possible that 60,000 fathers, sons and 
brothers, were, for no other sin than being taken 
prisoners while fighting for their country, com- 
pelled to go through such a furnace of fire as Ander- 
sonville. 

R — Frank, did you know the father and son ? 

S — No, sir; but it was my sad pleasure to decorate 
with a national flag, flowers and ferns the boy's grave 
last decoration day, and return the mementoes to- 
the aged father, who. now resides in Waterbury. 
The next work for the dead was to fasten a slip of 
paper to the old shirt or what remained of blouse, upon, 
which would be written the name, company, regi- 



50 smith's knapsack 

ment, state, rank and date, when the body would be 
taken over to the South Side and laid with others in 
the dead row opposite the gate. 

R — How long would it remain there ? 

S — Until the dead had all been gathered up and 
labeled and made ready for the "Dead House." 

R — How was the "Dead House" made and where 
was it ? 

S — Only a short distance from the "South Gate," 
and made by pine tops being placed upon a frame 
work of poles. The "Dead House" was constructed 
of insufficient dimensions to contain the bodies of all 
that died. Sometimes forty, often thirty were placed 
upon the ground outside its limits, where they lay in 
the open air. Within and around this place the final 
results of our treatment were to be seen. Here, in- 
deed, were the fruits of the "natural agencies" which 
were to do thewoi'k "faster than the bullet." The at- 
tempt to place the bodies in regular line was vain. 
It became so because the contorted forms of the de- 
ceased, particularly of those who died from the effects 
of scurvy. In these the cords had become affected, 
and by their contraction had drawn np the limb into 
every hideous shape. The flesh was livid, and 
swollen even to bursting, in many places; large open 
sores — pools of corruption — were upon their bodies, 
and the vermin swarmed in the rags that covered 
them. The victims of gangrene presented a sicken- 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 51 

ing sight; the flesh was eaten from their cheeks, ex- 
posing the leeth and bones, and upon their faces sat 
a skeleton grin, horrible to behold. There was also 
the meagre frame-work of men wasted away by 
diarrhea and fever, and the pallid lips of the con- 
sumptive. And the dead lay there upon the bare 
ground, clad in the filthy rags in which they died, 
covered with filth and dirt and parasites, their sallow 
faces upturned to heaven, their lusterless eyes fixed, 
large, staring and hollow, and their jaws dropped 
wide apart, their naked feet pinched with leanness 
and dark with smoke and grime, and their fingers, 
fleshless and bony and black beneath the nails, tight- 
ly clenched as they had faintly struggled m their last 
agony. Nor were the numbers of the dead few and 
occasional. During the month ol August 3,070 
bodies were deposited in the dead-house previous to 
burial, an average of more than 102 per day, ex- 
ceeding by 1,000 the largest brigade engaged in the 
batde of Stone Eiver, and being nearly seven-eighths 
as many as the entire division of Brigadier-General 
Van Cleve in that famous engagement. But during 
the latter part of the month the mortality was much 
greater than at the first, the number of dead being 
100, no, 120, 125 and 140 per day. In the early 
morning the dead-cart came for the bodies. This 
was an army wagon without covering, drawn by four 
mules and driven by a slave. The bodies were tossed 



52 smith's knapsack 

into the cart without regard to regularity or decency, 
being thrown upon one another as logs or sticks are 
packed in a pile. In this manner, with their arms 
and legs hanging over the sides, and their heads 
jostUng and beating against each other, they were 
hauled to the cemetery, which is located northwest 
of the stockade and nearly a mile from the hospital , 
upon a beautiful open spot, surrounded by the forest 
of pines and slightly sloping toward the north-east. 
The dead were buried by a squad of paroled prisoners 
selected for this purpose. A trench running due 
north and south, was dug about four feet in depth, 
seven feet wide, and of sufficient length to contain 
the bodies for the day." 

R — Did you ever witness such a scene ? 

S — Yes, every day for months. 

R — And would you not accept the opportunity of 
escape by aiding the so-called Confederate States ? 

S — No one that I ever knew did. There was no 
difference in this respect as soldiers. We remained 
true to the ''Old Flag." 

R — You spoke of returning the little flag to Mr. 
Reed that was placed upon his son's grave. How 
could you tell whose remains were buried in any 
particular grave. Was you positive as to this matter ? 

S — Yes, sir; the plan was simple, yet very com- 
plete. When all was ready, the gate would be 
opened, and two boys taking up the dead comrade 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES 53 

nearest the gate, would carry him out. Within the 
large Court beyond the Wicket Gate, was a desk 
upon which was the Andersonville "Death Register." 
One of our own number was detailed as clerk. He 
received an extra ration and the liberty of remaining 
outside, under oath not to make any attempt to 
escape. When the prisoners, with their dead com- 
rade reached this desk, the clerk would copy upon 
the register what was placed upon the slip — adding 
to the slip the number 12,013, which indicated that 
12,013 prisoners had been carried out to the "Dead 
House" up to that moment ; the next, of course, being 
numbered 12,014; this work going on until the la§t one 
in dead row had been recorded, where the number- 
ing commenced again next day. 

R — How many did they draw out at a load ? 

S — The dead were piled up as long as they would 
remain on the wagon. 

R — Who had charge of the cemetery ? 

S — Detailed prisoners, who received extra rations. 

R — I suppose a large force of prisoners were also 
kept busy making coffins ? 

S — Making What ? 

R — Coffins. 

S — Is it possible you ask such a question. Coffins, 
no such care as that. Coffins, you might as well ask 
for a sheet of paper, in order to write home, as to 
look for a coffin. No, sir ; no coffins at Andersonville. 



54 smith's knapsack 

R — Did Jefferson Davis have boards placed over 
the bodies there ? 

S — No, sir; trenches or ditches seven feet wide 
and four feet deep were dug, and the dead laid side 
by side. 

R — How close together ? 

S — As close as possible. 

R — After being covered, how were the graves 
marked ? 

S — After the bodies, all twisted and out of shape^ 
pinched from famine and otherwise deformed, caus- 
ing the boys of twenty to appear fifty, had been 
covered, a little stake with a number corresponding 
to the one on the register, was painted upon it, 
thus, making it an easy matter to tell whose grave 
12/799 was. 

R — What other record besides the name was kt pt ? 

S — Name, State, Regiment, Company, Rank and 
date of death. 

R —Were the prisoners who carried out the dead 
companions, rewarded in any way ? 

S — Yes ; they were allowed to form a squad and 
bring back as large a piece of wood as they could 
carry, which was equally divided, on their return. 

R — Now, Frank, will you please favor me with a 
description of the present appearance of the ceme- 
tery? 

S — Not now, Reporter, that will be faithfully 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 55 

pictured in Andersonville of " '64 " and " '84," which 
comes later in your interview. You must exercise 
patience, Reporter, or else you will defeat one object 
of my little book. 

R— What is theft ? 

S — To cause my friends to read it all and tell 
others of the value of Smith's " Knapsack " ot 
Facts and Figures. 

R — How did you procure water for drinking, 
cooking and other purposes ? 

S — From the branch, until " Providence Spring " 
broke out. 

R — The branch, what was that ? 

S — The poor miserable stream which flowed 
through the prison from West to East, was called the 
branch. 

R — Providence Sprmg ; do you refer to the Spring 
Pve heard so much about? 

S — I guess so, its history has crossed both oceans. 

R — Where did it appear ? 

S — Not far from the "North Gate." between the 
stockade and "dead line." 

R— When ? 

S — Either the 12th or 13th of August, 1864. 

R — Day or night ? 

S— I^ight, I think. 

R — During a storm ? 

S — Don't remember ; some claim that it did. 



56 smith's knapsack 

R — Do you regard it as a miracle ? 

S — No, sir ; but very Providential. 

R — If the spring was between the stockade and 
"dead line," how did it benefit you. Were you not 
afraid of being shot by the guards ? 

S — No. Captain Wirz granted permission to sink 
a barrel and bring the water by a little trough to our 
side of the dead line or little fence. 

R — What would the boys carry the water away in ? 

S — I suppose you refer to those who did not have 
cups, little pails, frying pans, etc. ? 

R — Yes, sir. 

S — Among the thousands of prisoners, there were 
men who could make anything from a meeting house 
down to a chuck-luck board. These comrades would 
make little pine pails, boxes, turn boot legs into leath- 
er pails by putting in wooden bottoms. They converted 
strips of tin, torn from the tops of cars into pans and 
cups. Some of the poor boys would have old shoes, 
felt hats; while others cdM^^di pocJzets to be made out 
of rubber blankets; and those having none of the 
articles mentioned, waited their turn; and then stoop- 
ing down, would place their poor bony hands together 
in order to make a cup to contain water long enough 
to bring it to their sore, parched, fevered lips and 
mouth. 

R — Why didn't the boys who had cups lend them 
to their unfortunate comrades ? 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEES. 57 

S — They were fearful that the blood or matterated 
particles would fasten to the cups and thus poison 
others ; notwithstanding this, many did day after day 
favor the needy brother prisoner. 

R — You spoke of waiting your turn to get water, 
how was that ? 

S — Early as four o'clock and until dark you could 
see at times hundreds standing in line in order to 
procure water from "Providence Spring." 

R — Why was it called "Providence Spring ?"' 

S — Because it was then, and is now by thousands, 
considered as coming directly from God, just as truly 
as did the water from the smiting of the rock by 
Moses. 

R — How was it protected ? 

S — By policemen detailed for that purpose. 

R — Were the guards sometimes called policemen ? 

S — No, sir; from July 12th we had a force of 
1»200 strong selected from our own number. 

R — Chief and other officers ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — Were they efficient and faithful ? 

S — They were. 

R — You say after the 12th of July; did you not 
have a force prior to that date ? 

S — No, sir; but after the execution of the six 
"Raiders/' on July 12th, it was thought best "to 
organize and officer a sufficient number of the most 



58. smith's knapsack 

able-bodied men, as a means of protecting the sick 
and weaker brother prisoners. 

R — How came you to hang six of your own men ? 

S — There was a large number of men known as 
" Raiders " who were a terror to all in the place and 
finally McElroy, Key and other brave resolute spirits 
organized a band for the purpose of capturing the 
"Raiders." 

R — How did they succeed? 

S — As did ^'(^vdiWtf they pushed things. Ninety of 
them were captured after one of the most terrible hand 
to hand conflicts I ever witnessed. 

R — Did you help ? 

S— No. 

R— Why not ? 

S — I was a coward, and remained on the north 
side near my tent. Never did enjoy fighting with guns, 
clubs or fists. 

R — What did they use? 

S — Clubs and knots made from the pitch pine. 

R — Were all of the ninety men tried ? 

S — Yes, and six of them sentenced to be hung. 

R — Who tried them ? 

S — Our own men. 

R_VVhere ? 

S — Outside the stockade in a shed granted by 
Captain Wirz. 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEE8. 59» 

R — Did they have any spiritual adviser before 
being hung ? 

S— Yes. 

R— Who ? 

S — Father Hamilton, a generous and faithful Roman 
Catholic Priest, from Macon, Ga. 

R — Were the men hung inside or outside the prison- 
grounds? 

S — Inside. 

R — What was done to the eighty-four of the ninety 
men tried ? 

S — Don't recollect, but I do know they received 
careful attention after being sent back. They were 
"marked men" and well known to our Star Organi- 
zation. 

R — Now then, Frank, tell me about the sick, and I 
think then you will have answered about all the 
questions I can possibly think of, unless it may be 
as to the matter of washing your clothes ; did you- 
ever indulge in such a luxury ? 

S — Some did, I for one, but the larger majority did 
not from the fact that our garments would not put up 
with much rubbing. The way it was accomplished was 
to go to the branch, take off one ox pa7't of one gar- 
ment at a time, soak and press it, then put it on and 
lay in the sun till dried, turning over as often as 
necessary. As to our poor sick comrades. Dr. Joseph 
Jones, M. D., Professor of Medical Chemistry in the 



€0 smith's knapsack 

Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta, who made 
a thorough inspection of Andersonville under instruc- 
tions from the Surgeon General of the so-called Con- 
federate States, reported that the prisoners were so 
affected with scurvy, caused by want of vegetables, 
or of nutritious food, that their limbs were ready to 
•drop from their bodies. I have often seen maggots 
scooped out by the handful from the sores of those 
thus afflicted. Upon the first attack of scurvy, an 
•enervating weakness creeps over the body, which is 
followed by a disinclination to exercise; the legs be- 
come swollen and weak, and often the cords contract, 
■drawing the leg out of shape; the color of the skin 
becomes black and blue, and retains pressure from 
the fingers as putty will. This is frequently followed 
by dropsical symptoms, swelling of the feet and legs. 
U the patient was subject to trouble with the throat, 
the scurvy would attack that part; if afflicted with or 
predisposed to any disease, there it would seize and 
develop, or aggravate it in the system. In cases of 
this character, persons ignorant of their condition 
would often try to do something for a disease 
which in reality should have been treated as scurvy, 
.and could have been prevented or cured by proper 
food. A common form of scurvy was in the mouth; 
this was the most horrible in its final results of any 
that afflicted the prisoners. The teeth would become 
loosened, the gums rot away, and swallowing the 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. Gli 

saliva thus tainted with the poison of scurvy, would 
produce scurvy in the bowels, which often took the 
form of chronic diarrhea. Sometimes bloating of the- 
bowels would take place, followed by terrible suffer- 
ing and death. Often scurvy sores would gangrene, 
and maggots would crawl from the flesh, and pass- 
from the bowels, and, under the tortures of a slow 
death, the body would become, in part, putrid before- 
death. Persons wasted to mere skeletons by star- 
vation and disease, unable to help themselves, died 
by inches the most terrible of deaths. There was a 
portion of the camp, forming a kind of a swamp, on^ 
the north side of the branch, as it was termed^ 
which ran through the center of the camp. 
This swamp was used as a sink by the prisoners, and 
was putrid with the corruption of human offal. The- 
stench polluted and pervaded the whole atmosphere 
of the prison. When the prisoner was fortunate 
enough to get a breath of air outside the prison, it 
seemed like a new development of creation, so differ- 
ent was it from the poisonous vapors inhaled from 
this cess-pool with which the prison air was reeking. 
During the day the sun drank up the most noxious- 
of these vapors, but in the night the terrible miasma 
and stench pervaded the atmosphere almost to suffo- 
cation. In the month of July, it became apparent 
that unless something was done to abate the nuisance: 
the whole camp would be swept away by some ter- 



62 smith's knapsack 

rible disease engendered by it. Impelled by appre- 
hension for the safety of themselves and the 
troops stationed around the camp on guard, the 
authorities of the prison furnished the necessary im- 
plements to the prisoners, who filled about half an 
acre of the worst of the sink with earth eacavated from 
the hill-side. The space thus filled in was occupied, al- 
most to the very verge of the sink-, by the prisoners, 
gathered here for the conveniences of the place, and 
for obtaining water. Men reduced by starvation and 
disease would drag themselves to this locality to lie 
down and die uncared for, almost unnoticed. I 
have seen forty and fifty men in a dying condition, 
who, with their little remaining strength, had dragged 
themselves to this place for its conveniences, and, 
unable to get back again, were exposed in the sun, 
often without food, until death relieved them of the 
burden of life. Frequently, on passing them, some 
were reduced to idiocy, and many, unable to artic- 
ulate, would stretch forth their wasted hands in pit- 
eous supplication for food or water, or point to their 
lips, their glazed eyes presenting that staring fixed- 
ness which immediately precedes death. On some 
the flesh would be dropping from their bones with 
scurvy; in others little of humanity remained in the 
wasted forms but skin drawn over bones. Nothing 
ever before seen in a civilized country could give 
one an adequate idea of the physical condition to 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEES. 03 

which disease, starvation, and exposure reduced these 
men. It was only strange that men should retain 
life so long as to be reduced to the skeleton con- 
dition of the great mass who died in prison. 

R — Such testimony from one of their own surgeons 
cuts me off from advancing any more excuses far 
Jefferson Davis. He certainly had timber, water, 
soap, and could have provided vegetables for all, and 
granted you the liberty of building huts and slab 
houses. To-morrow we will open up your "Field 
Knapsack" for inspection and answers to my ques- 
tions. Goodbye. 

S — Good bye, Reporter ; do not dream that you 
are in Andersonville. 







FACTS AND FIGURES 

—FROM— 

SMITH'S FIELD 



S — Good morning, Reporter ? 

R — Good morning; you'r early Smith. 

S — Yes. Did you rest well last night? 

R — Rest; no. Couldn't sleep on account of 
dreaming. Thought I was in Andersonville, trying 
to make soup out of "Cow Eyes." But, never mind, 
our subject will be more pleasant to-day. When was 
Sumpter fired upon ? 

S— On the morning of April 12th, 1861, at half- 
past four. 

R — Who fired the gun ? 

S — An old man named Ruffin, from Virginia. 

R — When was President Lincoln's first call for 
troops issued ? 

S— April 15th, '"61." 

R^^How many did he call out ? 

S— He asked for 75,000. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES- 65 

R— With what resuh ? 

S — Before the Government was ready 91, 810 
were at Washington — 16,816 more than was asked 
for. 

R — How many from our State ? 

S — Twelve thousand three hundred and fifty-seven. 

R — Wliat State sent the greatest number ? 

S^Pennsylvania. She gave 20,175, which was 
7,675 more than her quota. 

R — What State first had troops in Washington? 

S — Pennsylvania. 

R — Did Ohio send more than her quota ? 

S — Yes sir, 2,204; and most every loyal State 
answered Father Abraham's call in the same gener- 
ous manner. 

R — Did other calls soon follow ? 

S — Yes; and by September 700 , 680 men were in 
the field. The call in July, 1862, for 300,000 
men was responded to by 421,465. 

R — How many men were in the field from '61 to 

'65? 

S — The total number of men furnished by the 
Slates and Territories for the armies of the United 
States, after deducting those credited for service in 
the navy, will exceed 2,850,000, 

R — Does this number include men who were 
counted twice ? 

S — What do you mean ? 



66 smith's knapsack 

R — I wan't to know if the number stated includes 
the veterans who re-enlisted. 

S — Yes, sir ; it would be a very difficult and un- 
necessary work to find out how many individuals 
served in the army ; nor is it of any practical benefit. 
The one important "fact" is — that enough men re- 
sponded to the different calls to save the Union. 

R — Can you tell me about what our loss by death 
was ? 

S — From all causes? 

R — Yes, but under different heads ? 

S — Yes, or near as will ever be known. The 
Adjutant-General's report and the Surgeon-General's 
has been combined or compared v/ith the following 
result: Killed in batde, 44,238. Died of wounds 
or injuries, 49,205. Suicide, homicide and execu- 
tion, 520. Died of disease, 186,216. Unknown 
causes, 24,184. Making a total of 304,369 men 
who lost their lives during the rebellion. 

R — The number killed in battle is much smaller 
than I supposed. My estimate would have been 
three or four times the number you mention. 

S — Yes; and that's the case with nine out of ten 
who are asked to give tigures. 

R — Do you suppose that includes all who lost their 
lives ? 

S — No, sir ; there were at times men who failed to 
report after engagement, besides those included in 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEES. 67 

the numbers given who never deserted, who, without 
doubt, lost their lives while in the service. 

R — Have any figures been made to represent this 
class ? 

S — Yes ; two men for each regimental organiza- 
tion, which makes the total number 313,000. 

R — How many men were wounded in action ? 

S— 280,000. 

R— How many were captured and reported mis- 
sing ? 

S— 184,791. 

R — How many deaths occurred in the hospitals ? 

S— 188,353. 

R — How many engagements were there during 
the war ? 

S — Two thousand two hundred and sixty-one. 

R — And only 44,238 men killed upon the 
battle-field, while 30,401 died in the prisons of 
Jefferson Davis — is that a fact? 

S — Yes sir, hard "Facts" and "Figures" I know, 
but "Facts" nevertheless. 

R— Why, Smith, that's only 7,837 less than the 
entire number killed from '6i to '65 in over 2000 
engagements, while there were only sixteen Southern 
prisons containing from first to last 94,702 prison- 
ers of war. 

S— Yes, I see the figures from the ''Knapsack" 
have opened your eyes and caused you to think as 



68 smith's knapsack 

never before, for which ''Fact," I am thankful, for 
I do not believe that young people as a rule realize 
what the years from 1861 to 1865 meant to the 
" Boys " who wore the Blue ; nor what an honor it is 
to be a worthy member of the Grand Army of 
til e Republic. 

R — Can you tell me how many officers and men 
were killed during the service ? 

S — I have already, Reporter. 

R — Well, I want the number of Regulars, Volun- 
teers, white and colored, this time. 

S — Yes, I see ; do you mean from all causes, 
killed, died of wounds, and in hospitals ? 

R — Yes, that's it ; so they can readily be remem- 
bered. 

S — Total number of deaths. Regular army, 267 
commissioned officers, 4,592 enlisted men ; Volun- 
teer army, 8,553 commissioned officers, 250,427 
entlisted men. Colored troops, 285 commissioned 
officers, 33,38 enHsted men. 

R — From what report did you obtain the figures ? 

S — The Adjutant-General's, dated October 25th, 
1870. 

R — That must have been a hard and difficult task. 

S — Yes, indeed ? the officers of the various 
departments of the Adjutant-General's offices, also- 
those of the Surgeon-General's, Paymaster-General's, 
Second Auditor of the United States Treasury, and 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 69 

the Commissioner of Pensions ; all of the offices of 
the above departments had to be carefully inspected. 

R — Now, Smith, a few questions in closing the 
^' Field Knapsack " interview. Please describe Fort 
SuQipter. 

S — The walls of Sumpter were eight feet thick and 
forty feet high, with two tiers of casemates ; it was 
five sided, enclosing a space of about 300 by 350 
feet, and in its casements and on its rampart it was 
designed for 140 guns ; its proper war garrison was 
C50 men. 

R — How many men did Major Anderson have 
when fired upon ? 

S — Nine commissioned officers, sixty-eight non- 
commissioned officers and privates, eight musicians, 
and forty-three non-combatant workmen. The 
workmen were not allowed to depart under the fear 
of being shot by the besiegers, in order that they 
might help consume Anderson's small stock of food, 
and in so doing starve them into submission the 
quicker. 

R — How many did the Confederates have? 

S -Nearly 5,000. 

R — When was Sumpter evacuated? 

S — Sunday, April 14, 1861. 

R — What date did the surrender of Lee's army 
occur ? 

S — Palm Sunday, April g, 1865. 



70 smith's knapsack 

R — Wasn't the first battle fought on Sunday ? 

S — Yes, sir; July 21st, 1861. 

R — How many men did Lee have when he hand- 
ed over his sword to Grant ? 

S— In round numbers 26,000. 

R — Did that close the war ? 

S — No; Johnston held out until April 29th with 
29,024 men, Taylor until May 4th with 10,000, 
Jones six days after with 8,000 ; next day came 
Thompson with 7,454, and last of all on May 26th, 
Kirby Smith with 20,0 00 ; so you see there were 
Smiths on the "off" side also. 

R — When were our troops disbanded or discharg- 
ed ? 

S — June 1st, '65, the work began, and by the fol- 
lowing November nearly 800,000 men were at 
home. 

R — How many men were in the service at the 
close of the rebellion ? 

S— About 1,000,000 . 

R — What was our loss in money ? 

S— Loss and debt over $6,000,000,000 . 

R — Do you recall the number of men said to have 
lost their lives or were disabled for life ? 

S— North and South ? 

R — Yes ; from both sides of the family. 

S— Not less than 1,000,000. The lowest esti- 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 71 

mate ever given is G00,000, as the number who 
lost their lives as the direct result of the war. 

R — You mean Union and Confederate together ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — What did it accomplish ? 

S — It forever settled the question of " State 
Rights," or that the Nation was stronger than the 
State. 

R— What else ? 

S — It gave freedom to nearly 4,000,000 men, 
women and children held as slaves. 

R— Was that all ? 

S — If it had been, that would have been enough, 
but it was not. Our Republic is no longer an exper- 
iment, but a settled fact; and as a Nation reunit- 
ed, we can together smg, 

" Thank God there beams o'er land and sea 
Our blazing star of victory, 
And everywhere from main to main 
The old flag flies and rules again." 

R— Do you think that is the spirit down South ? 

S — I know it. Good bye, Reporter. 

R — Smith, I shall appreciate our Government as 
never" before and be a much better citizen after this 
interview. Good night; I'll see you early to-mor- 
row. 



ANDERSONYILLE 

OIF 1864 &c 1884:. 



FACTS FEOM SMITH'S 



R — Frank, since leaving you last night the "Facts 
and Figures" from your "Knapsack" have been con- 
stantly with me. Heretofore Fve thought you ex- 
Prisoners of War tried hard to tell the truth when 
relating your experience, but in consequence of per- 
sonal suffering, I always gave you considerable mar- 
gin, but now I know the true inwardness of Ander- 
sonville can never be put into language and I desire 
to make this acknowledgement before asking ques- 
tions relating to the present condition and appearance 
of the old stockade and cemetery. 

S — Never mind Reporter, I cannot blame you for 
disbelieving the experiences listened to from any one 
of my fellow sufferers, it's all right; I do not suppose 
Jefferson Davis himself believes one half he hears or 
reads on the question, I wrote him an "open letter" 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 73 

once under the head; Crumbs of Comfort for Davis, 
from his Andersonville Loaf, and he never even 
answered it, so you see reporter I'm used to such 
things, don't worry. 

R — All right; who owns the "Old Stockade 
Grounds?" 

S — A colored gentlemen by the name of Kennedy. 

R — Are the Stockade timbers yet standing ? 

S — Very few of them. 

R — I suppose they have rotted away, have they 
not? 

S — No, the farm has been fenced with rails made 
from them. 

R — Wliat ; is the prison now farmed? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — My; what can they raise on those two side 
hills ? 

S — I never saw better corn anywhere than was 
growing last June on the South side. 

R — How about the North side ? 

S — That is in corn this year ; last August, cotton 
was the crop. 

R — Is the place grown over with second-growth 
timber ? 

S — Yes ; but Mr. Kennedy has done good work at 
clearing up since last August, and all but the swamps 
or marsh will by next year be under cultivation. 

R — Does the stream run through the grqunds yet? 



74 smith's knapsack 

S— Yes. 

R — You said there were three Hnes of stockade. 
Can you trace them now, how high were they ? 

S^Yes, and for years to come. Here and there 
looms up one Hke some giant guard keeping watch 
over the old place. 

R — What about the wells that you boys dug inside. 
Are they still visible ? 

S — Yes, many of them, and a few are from forty to 
fifty feet deep. They are as clean and smooth as 
when the last cupful of dirt was thrown out. 

R — Any water in them ? 

S — No, sir. 

R — I should think they would be dangerous, being 
open and so deep. 

S — They are. I came very nigh falling into one 
while walking over the grounds. 

R — "Providence Spring." Is that discernable. 
Suppose not, however. 

S — Well, you need not suppose anything of the 
kind, for it has never ceased to flow since August 
i2th, 1864. 

R — Describe it as it now appears? 

S — It may have possibly worked backed a little 
farther. I paced the distance and found it to be 
about twenty feet from rhe stockade. There is now 
a tremendous large pine stump with long solid pine 
roots covering it as if protecting its cool waters from 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 75 

all harm or acts of sacrilege. The water does not 
come from the side of the hill but from a great depth 
below the opening where beautiful white sand and 
small gravel is constantly thrown up. The supply 
is most bountiful and has entirely changed the qual- 
ity of the stream flowing through the ground^ 
which is now clear, cool and sweet. Two colored 
men, Deacon Stickney and Jacob Smith, in honor of 
my visit, put a nice curb about it, possibly two feet 
and a half high, and cut a half moon in the front,, 
which allows the water to flow off. 

R — I suppose you drank from it ? 

S — Well, I "recon." I did time and time again, for 
I spent parts of several days in walking over the old- 
place. 

R — Are the earth-works visible ? 

S — Yes, indeed; perfect as when the "Jo^"'""^^^" 
completed them, and will remain so for one hundred 
years, unless ploughed up. They are solid, as the 
old pine trees themselves. 

R — How is it with the '^rifle pits," are they to be 
seen ? 

S — Yes, every one of them, and through the 
woods surrounding the prison grounds, you can trace 
every inch of the old stockade lines from pieces still 
standing. 

R — Did you bring home any of the pieces ? 

S — Ves, sir. My friend "Robert," one of the 



76 smith's knapsack 

■cemetery hands, and myself, cut down the only 
:sound twenty foot stockade timber we could find. 

R — What did you want of such a long piece ? 

S — I brought home twelve feet of it. 

R_Wheugh ! what for ? 

S— To exhibit at our Tri-State Fair. 

R — Were any of the ''Dug-Outs" or "Brown 
Stone Fronts " to be seen ? 

S — Yes of the "Dug-Outs" that is, you can see 
what they caused after our leaving the prison. 

R— What's that ? 

S — The North side has great wash-outs and large 
■openings, caused from the dug-outs caving in. 

R — Was any of the "Dead Line" standing? 

S — No, sir. 

R — Any relics torn up in working the place ? 

S — Yes, constantly. 

R_What ? 

S — Buttons, old spoons, knives, forks, bits of 
■skillets, parts of canteens, etc., etc. • 

R — Is the place all under cultivation ? 

S — No, nor never will be ; only the two side hills, 
and visitors for the next hundred years will find many 
points of interest ; and, mark my words, one hun- 
dred years from to-day the history remains of Ander- 
sonville will be one of the wonders of the world. . 

R — Could you locate your sjDOt of ground where 
your tent was ? 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 77 

. S — Where my part of tent was ? Yes, or nearly so. 
The Spring makes a good guide board, for it is just 
about where it was, and pours out its precious flow of 
pure water constantly, and using it as a starting, 
point you can correctly locate all points of interest.. 

R — Did you bring home some of the water? 

S — Yes, several quarts, and I picked some black- 
berries right by it, and had Dr. W. B. Harrison, one- 
of our Andersonville surgeons, put them up in alco- 
hol for me. 

R — Then you met some of the ex-Confederate's, 
there that were connected with the prison ? 

S — Yes, sir, and all of them treated rae in a most 
royal manner. I had the pleasure of taking dinner 
with the doctor and his family, in company with a 
Mr. Frank Blair, of Pittsburg, and his wife. Mr. 
Blair had been to the re-union of his regiment, near 
Richmond, Va., and came TOO miles out of his way 
to visit the prison where he was confined. I tell 
you, Reporter, it was a treat not to be forgotten, to 
be privileged to walk over the ground with him and 
his good wife. Mrs. Blair would stop every few mo- 
ments and sob as she heard us talk over old 
times. We had the pleasure of pushing down one 
of the sixteen-foot stockades. As we did, Mrs. Blair 
said, ''So may fall every enemy of our Free Land.''' 
And we said, "Amen ! Amen ! !" 



78 smith's knapsack 

R — Did Mrs. Blair walk over the entire grounds 
with you ? 

S— Yes, and I wish you could have heard our party 
of three sing, 'Praise God from whom all blessings 
flow" at the spring after we had quenched our thirst. 
I tell you, Reporter, the old place rang with melody. 

R_While there this summer you held religious 
services within the old ground, didn't you ? 

S — Yes sir, at the "spring" and it put me in mind 
of the blessed meetings we conducted during 1 864. 

R — Did you have services there ? 

S— Yes. 

R — Of what did they consist? 

S — Preaching, prayer meeting, short talks, singing, 
bible classes, regular Y. M. C. A. work. 

R — Y. M. C. A. work, what kind of work is that? 

S— Now, Reporter, don't you know that those letters 
stand for the Young Men's Christian Association ? 

R — Of course, I know ; I was only joking. Who 
conducted your meetings at Andersonville ? 

S — Generally the Rev. T. J. Sheppard, now the 
financial Secretary of the Ohio Baptist Educational 
Society. 

R — Where does he reside ? 

S— Granville, O. 

R — Is he the Sheppard that is known as the 
" Andersonville Chaplain ? " 

S — Yes sir. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES 



R — How many Christian workers were there in 



prison ? 

S — Some ten or fifteen of us that used to carry on 
the meetings. 

R — Good attendance ? 

S — Yes, sir; several thousand. 

R— Attentive ? 

S— Never knew of a case of disturbance. 

R — Any other rehgious effort ? 

S — Yes, with the sick. 

R — What were your resuhs? 

S-Good; all were encouraged, backsliders re- 
claimed and sinners converted. 

R — Singing ? 

S — Well I should say so ; no better on the globe. 
" Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah," was sung as 
only prisoners of war could sing it. Then there was 
"My Heavenly Home is Bright and Fair," and "Jesus 
Lover of my Soul," with "How firm a foundation 
ye Saints of the Lord is laid for you in His 
precious word," and others that used to stir us 
way from the bottom of our hungry half-famished 
souls. No, I'll take that back ; our souls were never 
famished. Rations for them came from above, thank 
God, 

R — Now, Frank, how does the cemetery look. 
Please describe it ? 

S — The cemetery contains about twenty-four acres 



80 smith's knapsack 

and is situated nearly a mile East of the Station, and 
perhaps, about the same from the old prison 
grounds. June 30th, 1865, James B. Moore, Assist- 
ant Quarter-Master United States Army, received 
orders to proceed to Andersonville Cemetery for 
the purpose of marking the graves of the Union 
prisoners of war for future identification and enclose 
the cemetery. Captain Moore took a large force of 
men with him. It was not until July 25th that they 
reached Andersonville, on account of delays made 
necessary at that time. At Macon, one Company 
of the 4th United States Cavalry, and one from the 
137th Regiment, was detailed to assist. The ex- 
Confederates along the line turned out to see the 
"Yanks" and talk about their mission, and the treat- 
ment of the prisoners, and all candidly admitted it 
was shameful ; also, that it would stand forever 
against them. Captain Moore states that without 
hardly an exception, every man who had been a 
soldier, was penitent and kindly disposed, and anxious 
again to become citizens of the Government they 
had fought so hard to destroy. On reaching the 
cemetery the dead were found buried in just such 
trenches, as I described, varying in length from 
fifty to one hundred and fifty yards long. 
Captain Moore found over each grave the Uttle stake^ 
numbered as described from Andersonville "Knap- 
sack." July 26th, the work of identifying graves. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 81 

painting and lettering of ''head boards," laying out 
walks and enclosing the cemetery, was commenced. 
With a force of several hundred men this consumed 
several weeks. One hundred and twenty thousand feet 
of pine was used for "head boards." I found two that 
were used for "markers" by the surveyor's in laying 
out the boundary lines of government property. 
All the others of the 13,701 were burned, when 
the present marble ones were erected. The records 
upon the "head boards" are, 8,602 , I, Richards, 
Co. H., io6th Pa., Sept. 12, '64. 12,730, D. Fur- 
man, Co. B, 44th Mo., March 4, '65. You will 
notice. Reporter, that poor Furman died well toward 
the close of Andersonville's history. 

Miss Clara Barton, member of the Red Cross 
Society, immediately on learning that complete 
records of the dead were at Washington, went in 
person and urged the importance of at once identify- 
ing each grave. Miss Barton remained on the 
grounds at Andersonville and rendered valuable aid 
by suggesting many things, that after they were carried 
out, greatly aided in the cemetery being what it is to- 
day. 

R — Where is the cemetery situated ? 

S — About half a mile Northeast of the Railway 
Station. 

R — Is the ground level ? 



«2 SMITH S KNAPSACK 

S — No, sir. The ground set apart for the cemetery 
is undulating and sandy. 

R — How much land does the Government own 
there ? 

S — Eighty acres beside the cemetery. 

R — How many men are there employed in care 
of the grounds ? 

S — Three all the time, and more as required, ac- 
cording to the work and season of the year. 

R — How is it enclosed ? 

S — By a brick wall five and one-half feet high, di- 
vided into twenty foot panels, each panel supported 
by square pilasters carried some five inches above 
the top courses. 

R — What buildings are there within the enclosure ? 

S — The Superintendent's lodge, which is a one and 
a half story brick, and three good out-buildings, also 
of brick. 

R — The "Gateways," how are they constructed? 

S — Very fine double iron gates and a large carriage- 
way, with two small iron gates for pedestrians. 

R — Can you give me a general idea of the plan of 
the inside ? 

S — The cemetery is divided into four large sections, 
verging from a beautiful mound in the centre of a 
diamond plat. The flag-staff is on the mound, and 
the stars and stripes are kept flying from sunrise to 
sunset, except when it storms. Either side of the 



OF FACTS AND FIGUBES. 83 

mound are two large cannon in sand-stone bases. 
The four avenues are lined throughout their entire 
length on both sides with brick gutters. On the inner 
side of the gutters, and parallel to them, are rows 
of large water oaks that completely shade the 
avenues. 

R — How wide are the avenues ? 

S — Twenty feet, and most beautifully kept, as are 
the entire grounds. 

R — Explain the grave sections and "head stones" 
as to marking, etc. ? 

S — Each section, and the vacant portions of the 
cemetery grounds, are also well furnished with trees, 
shrubs and foliage plants, and otherwise beautified. 
Each soldier's grave is marked with a white polished 
marble stone. For the "Known," the stones are 
three feet long, four inches thick and twelve inches 
wide, and are set about one-half their length into 
the ground. The number, name, rank and state, is 
shown with raised letters on a shield. The "Un- 
known" are marked with square marble blocks, four 
inches thick, and are so set that only five inches 
project above the surface, with number cut on top. 

R — Can relatives send stones for erection? 

S — Yes, and a few have done so, but the ones 
erected by the Government being first-class in 
all respects and of a uniform size, add greatly to the 



84 smith's knapsack 

beauty and impressiveness of the most solemn place 
I ever visited. 

R — How far apart are the rows ? 

S — Ten or twelve feet. 

R — Was your decoration the first observed there ? 

S — No, sir. Memorial services were first held 
under the management of Rev. H. W. Pierson, D. D., 
on Emancipation Day, 1869. 

R — Any relation to our Rev. Pierson, of Dr. 
William's Church? 

S — Yes, sir ; the same person. 

R — How came he to undertake it ? 

S — Mr. Pierson at that time was connected with 
the schools for the Freedmen at Andersonville, and 
being a brave defender of their rights, and a most 
thoroughly loyal and soldier-loving man, he gladly 
carried out the decoration to a successful conclusion. 

R — Has "Decoration Day " been observed each 
year since then ? 

S — O no, sir; only once prior to the two occa- 
sions in the name of the Ex-Prisoners of War» 
undertaken by myself. 

R — Who conducted the second and when did it 
occur ? 

S — The same gentleman, Rev. Dr. Pierson, May 
30th, 1870, when ex-Governor Bullock, of Georgia, 
General Kryzyanowski and Rev. Dr. Collier took 
part in the exercises. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 85 

R — Was the decoration complete ? 

S — No, sir ; some four thousand flags and a large 
quantity of wreaths and flowers were used in a gene- 
ral way, decorating the "Flag Mound" and placing 
at the head of the sections flags and flowers for all 
in that section or row. Wreaths were also hung up- 
on the cast tablets. 

R — Do you think the day will be observed here- 
after ? 

S — Yes, sir ; the Government has charge of the 
14,400 flags I took down and it shall be my i)leas- 
ure to see that " Decoration Day " is observed in the 
future as long as the flags and myself hold out. 

R — How about the Superintendent, was he cordial 
and earnest in hifi reception of you, and did he enter 
into the spirit of the occasion ? 

S — Most assuredly ; both he and his good wife at 
once made me feel perfectly at home, and had I been 
the President or General Grant they would have 
done no more. 

R— Why so ? 

S — Because they could not. Mr. J. M. Bryant, 
the Superintendent, is a wounded soldier, and takes 
a true soldier's pride in making this sacred spot all 
that the circumstances will admit of, 

R — Is the "Death Register" open for inspec- 
tion ? 

S — Yes, sir. 



86 smith's knapsack 

R — Visitors allowed at all limes ? 

S — Yes, sir ; but no lunches can be eaten within 
the enclosure. 

R — Are there any inscriptions in honor of our 
dead there ? 

S — Yes, some twenty-five in various parts of the 
grounds, on cast tablets about three feet high. 

R — What are some of them ? 

S — I will only attempt to give a few, wish I might 
all, for they are full of instruction and truth : 

" The hopes, the fears, the blood, the tears, 
That marked the bitter strife, 
Are now all crowned by victory, 
That saved the Nation's life." 



" The fittest place for man to die, 
Is where he dies for man." 



■ A thousand battle-fields have drank. 
The blood of warrior's brave, 

And countless homes are dark and drear, 
Thro' the land they died to save." 



" On Fame's eternal camping-ground, 
Their silent tents are spread, 
And glory guards with solemn sound. 
The bivouac of the dead." 

R — There, Smith, I think you cannot close the 
inscriptions with any thing more in keeping than this 
last one ? 

S — Nor I. Well, Reporter, are you through with 
your questions ? 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 87 

R — Mr. Smith, there is one question to which I 
think you owe a naost careful answer to every man, 
woman and child in the United States. Yes, and in 
the world. 

S — What is the question ? 

R — Regarding the mortality of Confederates and 
Union Prisoners of War. Every little while the 
statement is made by men both North and South, 
that the death-rate was as large in our prisons 
as in theirs. Now, please, give me the true Facts 
and Figures ? 

S — Reporter, I should never have forgiven myself 
had the "Knapsack" been published without answer- 
ing your question more carefully than I did, when 
simply giving figures representing losses of Confed- 
erate and Union Prisoners of War, for of all ques- 
tioHS arising sipce the war, I think the one 
you have jvist asked, the most vital, for it has 
to do with our treatme nt to helpless, depend- 
ent prii^oners of war, soldiers who fought 
bravely, long and well for that which they 
believed to be right : 

Total No. of Captures by the Confederates. . . 188,145 
Number paroled 94,072 

No. actually confined in Confederate prisons . 94,073 
No. of deaths in Confederate prisons, ascer- 
tained by the graves 36,401 

Per cent, of mortality in Confederate prisons. 38.72 

Per cent, of mortality of Confederate captures. 19.35 



88 smith's knapsack 

Let us compare this with the mortality of Confederate 
soldiers captured by the Federal armies : 

Total No. of Captured by the Federals 476,169 

Number paroled 248,599 

No. actually confined in Federal prisons 227,570 

No. of deaths in Federal prisons, ascertained 

by the graves 30, 152 

Per cent, of mortality in Federal prisons 13.25 

Or 25.45 per cent, less than the percent- 
age of death in Confederate prisons. 
Per cent, of mortality of entire Union captures 6.33 

Or 13.02 per cent, less than the percent- 
age of death of entire Confederate cap- 
tures. 

If the mortality of Confederate prisoners captured by 
the Union army had equaled that of Union soldiers 
captured by them, then, taking the whole number of 
captures as a basis of calculation, the deaths among the 
476,169 Confederates in our hands would have been 
92,000, instead of 30,152; or, calculating it upon 
the reduced basis of the prisoners actually confined on 
both sides, to-wit : 227,570 Confederate prisoners in 
our hands, to 94,072 prisoners in their hands, the 
mortality would havebeen88,000, instead of 30,152. 
Instead of this, the mortality is reversed, and out of 
94,072 prisoners confined by the Confederates 
36,401 died, while out of 227,570 in the hands of 
the Federals only 30, 152 died. In other words, nearly 
two out of five, or forty of each hundred, of our prisoners 
died in the hands of the Confederates, while one in six 
or seven of each hundred Confederate prisoners died in 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 89 

onr hands, making the mortality nearly seven times as 
great among the prisoners in their hands as among the 
prisoners in ours. 

R — Yes, pertaining to the three Knapsacks worn 
by you, but a few as to your plans for this winter ? 

S— What are your questions? 

R — Are you going into the lecture field again, this 
season ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — Were you successful last winter ? 

S — Yes, and was received most kindly by G. A. R. 
Posts and other societies. 

R — Under whose management are your appoint- 
ments made ? 

S — The Slayton Lyceum Bureau, Central Music 
Hall, Chicago, 

R — Will they have the entire management of your 
appointments ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — What are your terms ? 

S — You must correspond with the Bureau, as 
terms, dates, etc., are entirely in Slayton & Whyte's 
hands, who will cheerfully send circulars and answer 
any questions relating to "In and Out of Anderson- 
ville." 

R — Is that the name of your lecture ? 

S— Yes. 

R — When do you take the platform ? 



90 . smith's knapsack 

S — I am subject to their engagements any time 
after October ist, 1884 ^^ October ist, 1885. 

R — I understand you are having a large oil paint- 
ing made of Andersonville as it was twenty years 
ago. Is that a fact ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — How large is it ? 

S — Seven feet long by four and a half wide. 

R — Do you intend taking it with you this winter ? 

S — Yes, sir. 

R — Is it a correct one? 

S — The very best in existence ; it was painted from 
an ink drawing made by a prisoner of war, who was. 
an artist. 

R — Does it represent the Stockades, "Dead Line," 
"North and South Gates" and prison grounds ? 

S — Certainly, or else it would be a very poor 
excuse. The entire grounds, with the hanging scene, 
are pictured in oil colors. Is that all ? 

R — Yes, Frank, much obliged, and good bye. 

S — Good bye. Reporter. Any time I can favor 
you do not hesitate to call on me. 

R — One minute, Frank. Was you West last 
winter ? 

S— Yes. 

R— What Road did you take ? 

S— The Chicago^ Milwaukee & St. Paul, of 
course. It's the Great National Fast Mail Line be- 



OF FACTS AND FIGUEES. 91 

tween Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneapolis, 
and all points in the Northwest. 

R — How about their through car service. Is 
it well up in comfort and elegance ? 

S— No better on earth. You will find the Pull- 
man Sleepers, Drawing- Room and Palace Din- 
ing' Cars on all their through trains, and, Reporter, 
if your time is worth anything, by all means take the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Road, they'll give you 
q uick time and the hest of accommodations over 
4,600 miles of the Greatest Railway in America 

R — Smith, you speak as if you were the General 
Passenger Agent, and if others had not told me the 
same story, I should think you were at least a stock- 
holder. I shall take it. 

S — You'll never regret your choice. When do you 
go? 

R — Not until August 5th. 

S — Pretty hot time, but the "smoke consumer "^ 
has been attached to every engine on the road, 
which you will find grand beyond conception, as you 
can face the old iron horse all day without sinders or 
smoke to annoy you. 

R — Do you refer to the "Hutchinson Smoke 
Gonsumer ?" 

S — Yes, sir. Call and see how they work while in 
Chicago. Our friend, W. J. Cook, is the manager. 



'92 



SMITH S KNAPSACK 



Are you surprised to learn that the road has adopted 
the Consumer ? 

R — Indeed I am. 

S — You need not be, for that's m perfect keepmg 
with every move made by the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul, as you will find. Good bye ; safe journey. 




FACTS AND FIGURES 

REGAKDING THE ARMY WORK OF THE 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 

FROM SMITH'S 



R — Frank, how early in ''61'" did the Associations 
commence work for the soldiers ? 

S — Within sixty minutes after the first call for 
troops. 

R — How so? 

S — Immediately after President Lincoln issued the 
call, the Y. M. C. A. of Chicago, New York, 
Washington and other places were at work de- 
vismg plans to meet them on reportmg or passing 
through their cities. 

R — When did troops first reach Washington ? 

S — Forty-eight hours after Father Abraham made 
the first call. 

R — What was the work performed ? 

S — The promotion of the spiritual and temporal 



54 . smith's knapsack. 

welfare of the thousands of young men who were 
leaving home to come in contact with the trials and 
temptations of the soldiers life without mother, wife 
or sister to kindly keep at their side and influence 
them toward the right. 

K — Pretty good sized contract. How did they 
undertake and carry out this immense task ? 

S — As young David met the giant Goliath, in the 
name of the God of Israel, and in His strength their 
efforts were successful. 

R — What steps were first taken ? 

S — President Lincoln, his Cabinet and the com- 
manders were personally visited or corresponded 
with; after this the army chaplains were consulted 
and the work of furnishing the troops with religious 
tracts, periodicals, and books, also aiding in the for- 
mation of religious associations in their several regi- 
ments, and putting such associations in correspon- 
dence with the Christian public. 

R_What else ? 

S — By cultivating, as far as possible, the religious 
sympathies and prayers of Christians in our behalf, 
obtaining and directing such gratuitous personal 
labor among us and the sailors as was practicable, 
and encouraging us to improve all opportunities and 
means of grace, which in the providence of God, was 
presented to us, and by establishing mediums of speedy 
and safe inter-communication between us and "home." 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 95 

R — What name was the organization known by ? 
S— The United States Christian Commission. 

R — What led to the formation of that organization. 
Why didn't the Association continue as they started 
and hold their own name ? 

S — Members of the New York Association soon 
discovered that the mission undertaken in Christian 
sympathy as a temporary task, would have to keep 
up and be extended for "three years or the war." 
The National Committee of the Young Men's Christ- 
ian Association of the United States for the year 
1861, resided in Philadelphia, Mr. George H. Stuart 
being Chairman. After taking counsel together it was 
decided to call a convention to meet in New York, 
Thursday, November 14, 1861. 

R —What was the result of the meeting ? 

S — The formation of the above society. 

R — Did the Southern States unite with the Com- 
mission ? 

S— No sir, they had an organization among their 
soldiers doing a similar work. 

R — Did the Commission have the support of the 
President, Cabinet and the commanders ? 

S — Yes, from the first, in reply to a letter from 
George H. Stuart, president of the Commission 
Abraham Lincoln said, your Christian and benevo- 
lent undertaking for the benefit of the soldiers is too 
obviously proper and praiseworthy to admit of any 



96 smith's knapsack ' 

difference of opinion. I sincerely hope yoUr plan may 
be as successful m execution as it is just and gener- 
ous in conception. In December 1863, General 
Grant after becoming acquainted with the practical 
work of the Commission granted the delegates to 
pass unmolested at all times through the lines. The 
military telegraph was placed at their free use for 
carrymg on their business. Free transportation for 
all stores was granted upon all Government steamers 
and military railroads. 

R — Are there any "Facts" and "Figures" that you 
can give showing the success of the work ? 

S — Yes, but the greatest success will never be 
known until the records of the unseen world are 
opened and made public, but ask your questions 
and I'll let the Facts and Figures tell their own story. 

R — You spoke of delegates, what were their duties? 

S — To personally visit the front, attend to the 
wants of all in need, on the field and in the hospital. 
Now reporter if you will take down some figures I 
think the result will open your eyes as to what 
the people of Loyal States placed into the hands of 
the Commission for free distribution among the 
soldiers and sailors in camp, hospital and field. 
Delegates commissioned 4,859 aggregate number 
of days ot delegate service 181,562 Bibles, Testa- 
ments and portions of Scripture distributed, 1,46 6- 
784, Hymn and Psalm books 1,370,953 , Knap- 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 97 

sack books in flexible and paper covers 8,308,052 
Magazines and Pamphlets 767,861 , bound books 
29 6,816 , religious weeklies and monthly news- 
papers l8,126,002, pages of tracts 39,104,243, 
silent comforter for hospitals and chapels 8,572 , 
sermons preached by delegates 58,30 8, prayer 
meetings held 77,744, letters written for the dying 
and sick soldiers to loved ones at home 92,321, 

R — Did the Commission furnish paper and en- 
velopes free to all desiring them or sell them at cost ? 

S-^ 7,067,000 , sheets of paper and 7,065,000 , 
envelopes were given away. 

R — How were such large quantities of books, 
magazines and paper gathered. 

Gat hered they were purchased, did you suppose 
they were old ones ? 

R — Yes certainly. 

S — Well sir they came fresh from the presses folded 
ready for distribution. 

R — Did the people sustain the Commission with 
cash donations for such enormous outlays. 

S— Yes, $2,524,512.56 was donated from '6i to 
'65, and the cash value of donations were as follows, 
are you ready to take the figures ? 

R — Yes, go ahead. 

S— Value of stores $2,839,445.17 , value of 
Publications 114,322.58, value of Scriptures 
$179,824.99, value of Scriptures donated by 
British and Foreign Bible Societies $1,677.7^» 



98 smith's knapsack 

value of Hymn Books donated by Army Committee 
of the Young Men's Christian Association, Boston, 
$3,750.90 , value ot Delegates services railroad 
steamboat and other transportation facilities furnished 
free $216,095.00, value of telegraph favors from 
Maine to Cahfornia $ 51,815.00, value of rents of 
ware-houses and offices $15,250.00, making a 
grand total of $6,291,107.68. 

R — How was this amount raised? 

S — Ministers and delegates visited 'towns and 
cities and presented the Commission's work for tlie 
soldier and the needed money came, and at the close 
of the war the commission had a surplus of over 
$90,0 00 on hand 

R — Where did the workers come from, and were 
they volunteers? 

S — From the college, the theological seminary, the 
counting room, the home-circle, the sons and the 
daughters of the Christian family, churches gave their 
pastors vacations, and the clergymen gladly devoted 
their time without any cost to the Commission. 

R — Well Frank, you and your brother soldiers 
were well cared for, indeed. How did the Commis- 
sion reach you in the Christian work Where could 
the meetings be held ? 

S — The Commission built chapels where the 
troops were stationed, and at other points they 
had what was known as the "Gospel Tent." These 
were made comfortable and pleasant by an outlay of 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. 99' 

^144, 583.16« One item of stationary and stamps 
alone cost $66,342 . 87, and all were given away. 
Reporter, for hospital stores, the Commission paid 
out $866,596.79. You know sometimes that 
the "Tract" which is handed out is an effort often 
looked upon as thrown away. Let me tell you what 
the New York Tract Society done. They prepared 
247^ distmct works for the army, circulating 6,570,- 
OOO copies ; it also furnished in four years 2,790,000 
copies of the American Messenger, and expended 
$200,000 for the spiritual welfare of the soldiery. 
The Society at Boston doing nearly as well, 

R — Smith, outside of the two Tract Societies was 
this work performed as the result of the efforts made 
by the Young Men's^Christian Association ? 

S — Yes, sir ; and at that time we were very (ew, 
indeed, less than two hundred Associations. 

R_«How was it ; could the Y. M. C. A. boys fight 
with powder and bullet as well as with the "Bible" 
ana "Tract?" 

S — Yes, sir; entire companies were made up of Y.M. 
C. A. workers, they were among the first troops at 
Washington 48 hours after the call for 75,0 00 men 
was issued, and if necessajy they would have obeyed 
General John A. Dix's order sent early in i86i to 
New Orleans: "If any one attempts to pull down 
the stars and stripes shoot him on the spot." And 
after doing their duty in that line, would have 
knelt beside him and told him of Jesus and His 



100 smith's knapsack. 

love. While the Association Soldier was at the front 
with the gun, members of the Commission were 
at the front, among - t he dyip g and dead, writing 
the last words of the husband to wife, son to parents^ 
brother to sister. Out of 200 Associations in 1861, 
at the close of the war, there was less than 20 in 
working order. Tlie Clu'istian Commission knew 
no color. They were color blind. Blue and 
Gray was the same to them, when worn by a 
wounded soldier. 

R — I never knew until now what the four letters 
Y, M. C. A. indicated. Smith, your organization 
shall have my most cordial sympathy and financial 
support from this moment. Since the war what has 
been the aim of the Association ? 

S — Same as during the Rebellion, to help Young- 
Men fight against sin, and the battle-fields are as 
numerous, and the conflict as earnest in 1884 as in 
1864. In closing our very pleasant interview, let me 
give you the testimony of the Ex-Confederate Prison- 
ers of War : 

Depot for Peisonees, ) 

Johnson's Island, near >• 

Sandusky, O., Oct. 31, 1863. ) 

The undersigned, prisoners of war at Johnson's Island, 
do hereby certify that from their personal knowledge 
and experience, the Delegates of the United 
States Christian Commission, in their Christian 
efforts to relieve the sick and wounded of the various 
battle-fields, make no difierence or discrimination be- 



OF FACTS AND FIGUKES. 101 

tween the contending parties, relieving alike the suffer- 
ings and wants of the Confederate and Federal,nieii 

and officers; and we, therefore, sincerely trust the 
authorities at -Richmond and elsewhere, will treat any of 
the said Delegates that may fall into their hands, with 
the kindness justly due them, and grant them a speedy 
return to their Christian work. 



This letter was signed by forty-eight Confederate soldiers, mostly 
■officers. 

R — No more evidence is required. No young 
man should ever be ashamed to identify himself with 
the Young Men's Christian Association, or to be 
known as a warm and earnest supporter of that 
organization which furnished so many soldiers from 
their ranks and stood by them to the extent of dis- 
bursing over $6,000,000 in supplying Spiritual and 
Physical life. How and where did you gather ail your 
Facts and Figures from, Frank ? 

S — Reporter, I've taken the same liberty as when 
with Sherman, and have Forag ed wherever I could 
gather a fact or figure, and could no more undertake 
to give credit for the same to authors and histories, 
than I could to-day confess as to where I pulled 
potatoes, beets, onions, chickens, hams, or the thou- 
sand other Rations that found their way into my 
"Knapsack" and "Haversack." Good bye, I am 
heartily glad that you are through with me. 

R — Frank, I hope your little book w^ill serve the 
place of a good sized pension and make it possible 
for you to purchase the home you spoke of for your 
share of the Smith family. Good bye. 



102 



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108 smith's knapsack 

LIST OF NATIONAL CEMETERIES. 



Name of Cemetery. 



Annapolis, Md 

Alexandria, La 

Alexandria, Va.. _. 

Andersonville, Ga 

Antietam, Md 

Arlington, Va 

Ball's Bluflf, Va 

Barrancas, Fla 

Baton Rouge, La 

Battle Ground, D. C 

Beaufort, S. C 

Beverly, N.J __ 

Brownsville, Tex 

Camp Butler, 111 

Camp Nelson, Ky 

Cave Hill, Ky _. 

Chalmette, La _ 

Chattanooga, Tenn 

City Point, Va 

Cold Harbor, Va „ 

Corinth, Miss 

Crown Hill, Ind 

Culppeper, Va 

Custer Battle Field, M. T. 

Cypress Hills, N. Y 

Danville, Ky 

Danville, Va 

Fayetteville, Ark 

Finn s Point, N. J 

Florence, S. C 

Fort Donelson. Tenn 

Fort Gibson, L T 

Fort Harrison, Va 

Fort Leavenworth, Kan... 

Fort McPherson, Neb 

Fort Smith, Ark 

Fort Scott, Kan 

Fredericksburg, Va , 

Gettysburg, Pa 

Glendale, Va _ 

Grafton, W.Va.-.. 

Hampton, Va 

Jefferson Barracks, Mo 

Jefferson City, Mo 

Keokuk, Iowa 

Knoxville, Tenn 

Laurel, Md 



Interments. 



Known. Unknown. Total 



,285 
5'^ 
,402 
,793 
,853 
,915 
1 
798 
,469 

43 
748 
145 
417 
007 
477 
344 
837 
999 
778 
673 

89 
681 
456 
262 
710 
33-5 
172 
431 



1,7J 



199 

158 
215 
239 
835 
152 
711 
390 
,487 
,967 
234 
634 
,930 
,584 
349 
613 
,090 
232 



204 

772 

120 

921 

1,818 

4,349 

24 

657 

495 



4,493 

1,379 

355 

1,165 

583 

5,674 

4,963 

1,374 

1,281 

3,927 

32 

911 



155 
781 

2,644 

2,799 
511 

2,212 
575 
928 
291 

1,152 

161 

12,770 

1,608 
961 
620 
494 

2,906 

412 

33 

1,046 



OP PACTS AND FIGURES. 

NATIONAL CEMETERIES— i Continued. 



109 



i^cDation, Ivy ......~. 

Lexington, Ky 

-Little Rock, Ark 

Logan's Cross Roads, Ky 

Loudon Park, Md 

-Marietta, Ga 

Memphis, Tenn 

exico City - 

Mobile, Ala 

Mound City, 111 — 

Nashville, Tenn - 

Natchez, Miss - 

New Albany, Ind 

New Berne, N. C 

Philadelphia, Pa - 

Pittsburg Landing, Tenn 

Poplar Grove, Va 

Port Hudson, La— — . 

Raleigh, N. C — 

Richmond, Va 

Rock Island, 111 

Salisbury, N. C 

San Antonio, Tex 

Seven Pines, Va 

Soldiers' Home, D. C 

Staunton, Va . 

5tone River, Tenn 

v'icksburg. Miss 

.Vilmington, N. C 

Vinchester, Va 

Voodlawn, Elmira, N, Y 

'orktown, Va 



1 



591 

805 
,205 
o45 
,637 
,188 
,160 
284 
756 
,505 
,825 
308 
,139 
,177 
,881 
,229 
,198 
596 
619 
842 
277 
94 
324 
150 
,314 
233 
,821 
,896 
710 
,094 
,074 
748 



171, 



277 

108 

2,337 

366 

166 

2,963 

8,817 

750 

113 

2,721 

4,701 

2.780 

676 

1,077 

28 

2,361 

4,001 

3,223 

562 

5,700 

19 

12,032 

167 

1,208 

288 

520 

2,324 

12,704 

1,398 

2,365 

16 

1,434 



147,568 



868 

913 
5,602 

711 

1,803 

10,151 

18,977 

1,034 

869 
5,226 
16,526 
3,088 
2,815 
3,254 
1,909 
3,590 
6,199 
3,819 
1,181 
6.542 

296 
12,126 

491 
1,358 
5,602 

753 
6,145 
16,600 
2,108 
4,459 
3,090 



318,870 



Of the whole number of interments indicated above, there are 
about 6,900 known and 1,500 unknown civilians, and 6,100 known and 
3,200 unknown Confederates, Of these latter, the greater portion are 
buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, N. Y.,and Finn's Point Cem- 
etery, near Salem, N. J. The interments at Mexico City are mainly 
of those who were killed or died in that vicinity during the Mexican 
War, and include also such citizens of the United States as may have 
died in Mexico, and who, under treaty provision, have the right of 
burial therein. From the foregoing, it will appear that, after making 
all proper deductions for civilians and Confederates, there are gathered 
in the various places mentioned the remains of neatly 300,000 men 
who at one time wore tne blue during the late war, and who yielded 
up their lives in the defence of the Government which now so gra- 
ciously cares for their ashes. 



110 smith's knapsack 



Memorial Day at Anderson ville, 1884. 

Written for Frank W. Smith, Toledo, Ohio, Ex- 
Prisoner of War at AndersonviHe, Millen, Blackshire, 
and Florence, and read by him on " Decoration Day,'' 
May 30, 1884. The 14,400 flags used were prepared for 
this service of " Love " by the Ladies of Macon, Ga., 
under the direction of Capt. AV. W. Carnes, of the 
Macon Volunteers, a soldier who wore the " Grey " from 
'61 to '65. 

O, Comrades, on each lonely grave we place one flower to-day, 
More sweet than any that shall bloom upon the heart of May ; 
More flush in blue and crimson, with starry splendor crowned, 
Because the thunders raged above, the darkness hemmed around ; 
The flower that our fathers saw an hundred years before — 
A tiny tendril springing by the lonelv cabin door — 
'Twas sown in fears, 'twas wet with tears, till, lo, it burst to view, 
The symbol of a nation's hopes— the Red, the White, the Blue. 

Ah ! not in anger, or in strife, we come with laden hands — 

The crimson retinues of war are ofl" in other lands— 

We bring the blossoms we have nursed to shed their honied breath. 

Where erst the reehng ranks of war unbarred the gates of death ; 

We lift the dear dead faces of our heroes to the light, 

We raise the pallid hands of theirs, we clasp and hold them tight ; 

We say : O brothers, rise and see the peace you helped to woo, 

Whose snowy pinions hover o'er the Red, the White, the Blue. 

Not yours, O silent Comrades, the ecstacy of strife. 
The haughty exaltation that rounds the heroes life ; 
Not yours the flash of sabers, the shouts of the advance. 
The gleam of thrusting bayones that shiver as they glance ; 
Not yours upon the parapet your banner to unfurl, 
To die with victory on your lips, as back your feet they hurl ; 
•The whisper of a kindling hope, while gaily over you, 
The silken folds are dancing out— the Red, the White, the Blue. 



OF FACTS AND FIGURES. Ill 

Nay, to your homesick vision the mask of Death was up, 
His icy breath was round, his draught was in the cup ; 
A terror walks at noonday ; the dreams that throng the night, 
But take the wings of morning and vanish ere the light. 
But O, our fallen heroes, one gleam of heaven shines, 
I'pon the ghastly phalanxes, along the ragged lines. 
And eyes grown dim with watching are lit with courage new. 
They've heard the tramp of Comrades, with the Red, the White, the 
Blue. 

O Comrades of the prison, ye have not died in vain. 

For lo, the march of harvests where war has trod the plain ! 

And lo, the breath of lilies and of rose beyond compare, 

And the sound of children chanting where the cannon rent the air ! 

We clasp our hands above you, with tearful hearts to-day, 

Your brothers who have worn the blue, your brothers of the gray ; 

Our hearts are one forever, whatever men may do, 

And over all the glory of the Red, the White, the Blue. 

Ah ! not in strife, or anger, or idle grief we come, 
With thrill and throb of bugle, with clamor of the drum ; 
We've heard the wings of healing above the war's surcease, 
And lo, the Great Commander, has set the watchword, " Peace ! ' 
Peace lo the free-born millions, who live to do and dare. 
Peace in each brave endeavor, in whatever lot they share 1 
Above the triune colors, so dear to me and you. 

The splendid flower that Freedom guards, the Red, the White, the Blue 

— Kate Brownlee Sherwood. 




Grand Army Cartridges. 



R — Frank, how are yon feeling over Toledo's victory 
at Minneapolis ? 

S — Happy as when " Atlanta " threw up the sponge 
and opened her gates to Slierman and his " boys." 
Think of it, Comrade Konntz left us as a drummer boy 
and returns Commander Kouiitz of 270,500 
Grand Army Boys. Then there's Mrs. Sherwood, 
the author of the poem, "Grand Army," which was 
recited by our friend Mrs. Mansfield Irving, who was 
selected after looking over the names of the many able 
elocutionists throughout the country, Mrs. Sherwood also 
called to occupy the highest position attainable among 
the noble women banded together in the organization 
known as the Women's Relief Corps. 

R — How many Grand Army Posts are there now ? 

S— March 31, there were 4,325, showing a gain of 
87,412 members during the year. 

R— How many members in all? 

S— 270,506. 

R — What amount was expended this last year for relief 
of widows and others ? 

S-$153,364.30. 

R— How many members has Ohio ? 

S— 7,751. Our gain for the quarter ending June 30th, 
was 2,780, which leads all the other States in net gains 

R— Well, Frank, that's pretty good for Toledo, and our 
State. I should think you ought to feel happy ? 

S— Yes, indeed; I am both happy and proud of the 
position Toledo occupies, and of the good judgment of 
the members of the G. A. R. of the United States 
has shown in electing Commander Kountz, Mrs. Sher- 
wood and Mrs. Irving to represent them. 



^'Ration Wagon" Scene at lijdersouYille. 




The Prisoner running, with cap 
in hand, is SMITH. 



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